Anything's Possible
by tsutsuji
Summary: Crossover with Kim Possible. Bakura wants a body, so he seeks out evil genius Dr. Drakken to make him one. BakuraxRyou shonen ai. Now read the sequel, "All Possible Worlds!" too!
1. In Which Plan A Fails

**Anything's Possible **(version 2.0)

Chapter 1 of 8

Author:_Tsutsuji_

Fandoms: Yugioh & Kim Possible

Rating: T - safe for older kids and teens.

Warnings: Shounen-ai, Crossover, my poor attempts at humor.

Spoilers: Not much, but some references to the Ancient Egypt arc of Yugioh and Bakura's history in particular.

_Disclaimer: Yugioh characters belong to Kazuki Takahashi and associates. Kim Possible characters belong to Disney. Tsutsuji just loves them all and likes to play around with them sometimes, and does not make any money whatsoever by doing so. _

Summary: Bakura wants his own body and Yami won't help, so Bakura and Ryou track down an evil genius who might be able to help: Dr. Drakken.

AN: This is set in a world of Yugioh where the Memory World thing hasn't happened. It follows "The Golden Dance," where Bakura and Ryou first realized and admitted their feelings for each other, and is followed directly by the sequel, "All Possible Worlds."

_Speech in italics indicates thoughts or mental communication between characters, as most frequent fanfic readers know!_

**Chapter 1: Introduction, In Which Plan A Fails.**

"Absolutely not, Bakura!" Yami no Yugi stood glaring, arms crossed, hip thrust forward, eyes narrowed dangerously. The Spirit in possession of Ryou's body glared back. They were alone in Yugi's grandfather's game shop; Bakura stood before Yami, looking like a fierce wind had just picked up his hair into spiky angles and blown open his shirt to reveal the Millennium Ring gleaming gold against his host's pale skin.

"You stubborn fool," Bakura said angrily, glaring right back. "All I want is a body of my own, why is that too much to ask of the great Pharaoh? You could give yourself your own body as well. I'm sure little Yugi would appreciate it if you did."

"That's not the point," Yami said curtly. "I won't use the powerful magic of the Millennium Items just for your convenience."

"I see," Bakura said, smiling wickedly. "It's as I suspected all along, you aren't really powerful enough to do it, are you?"

Yami's eyes flashed red. "Be careful, Bakura," he said in a low voice. "Remember that I can free you of Ryou's body by sending you to the Shadow Realm, if you insist on causing trouble."

"Rrr..." Bakura snarled, but in mid-snarl there was a flash of soft light from the Millennium Ring. The Spirit's spikes of silvery hair fell into a soft white cloud around his face, and his violet eyes flickered closed. A moment later Ryou's deep brown eyes opened instead, looking pleadingly at Yami.

"Please, Yami," he said in his soft, desperate voice. "I can promise you he'll do no harm, I'll take responsibility for him, if you would just make him free of me," he continued.

Yami's expression softened slightly, and he looked at Ryou with pity.

"I'm sorry that this burden is laid on you, Ryou," he said. "But as long as Bakura must depend on you to exist in this world, his power for evil is limited. The truth is, I don't know what would happen if both he and I were free to walk this earth, but I fear the power unleashed would be too great even for me to control. I can't help you."

"I... understand," Ryou said sadly. He sighed, his head drooping for a moment, but then he looked up with a brave smile. "Well, then, we'll just have to make the best of things as they are, won't we?"

"Mm," Yami nodded firmly. "That's the spirit, Ryou. I'm glad you understand how important this is."

Still smiling, Ryou turned and walked away, leaving Yami to stare after him.

_I wish..._ Yugi's thought came into Yami's mind, but Yugi cut it off just as the door jingled shut behind Ryou.

_What is it you wish, Aibou_, Yami asked.

_I wish we could be two people, too,_ Yugi said. _Maybe Bakura would be different if he could come out and be friends with all of us,_ he added hopefully.

"The risk is too great," Yami said out loud to the empty shop. He felt Yugi sigh.

_I suppose you're right,_ Yami's other self said

* * *

.

"Well, are you satisfied? I told you it wouldn't work," Bakura said to himself, or more precisely, to his Other Self, as he stalked away from his meeting with Yami.

_It was worth a try,_ Ryou insisted. _Maybe if we tell them the real reason..._

"Huh! You think the Pharaoh would agree to give me my own body just so I can ravish you? I doubt it very much, even if you were able to convince him that is exactly what you want. And even if he does secretly want to do the same to his own little hikari," he added with a sly grin.

_Bakura!_

Bakura laughed, leering at Ryou in his mind; he could sense his Other blushing.

"Well, if you still want us to be together, are you willing to try _my_ plan now?"

_I suppose so,_ Ryou thought with a sigh.

"Alright. Plan B it is, then. We'll need to book a flight to America."

_I already made the reservations,_ Ryou admitted, and Bakura smiled.

* * *

The truth was, Bakura hated flying. More precisely, he hated being a passenger. He'd be fine, he thought, if he knew how this big machine worked, if he could control it himself. He didn't trust the idiots that were in charge to know what they were doing. And that ocean below them seemed endless. Bakura paced in his soul room, frequently peeking out through Ryou's eyes and then retreating again when the scene hadn't changed from the last time he looked.

Ryou couldn't decide whether to be amused or annoyed. _Would you please try to relax? I've flown hundreds of times before you came along to complicate my life, and I can tell you it's perfectly safe. You watch too many disaster movies._

Bakura muttered and continued to pace. Ryou tried to sleep, but it didn't work. He finally retreated and forced Bakura to the surface.

_I'm sleeping now_, he thought firmly to his other self, who was distinctly uncomfortable to find himself actually sitting bolt upright in the narrow seat, feeling the jet engines vibrate through the floor. _You're in charge. If anything bad happens, don't bother to wake me,_ Ryou added with such an uncharacteristic lack of sympathy that Bakura blinked in confusion.

A moment later Ryou's consciousness faded, just as it used to do when Bakura pushed him aside to take control. More recently they were almost always aware of each other, and Bakura was disconcerted to find himself suddenly alone with his thoughts for the first time in ages.

"This is all Yami's fault," he snarled, ignoring the startled look of the elderly gentleman sitting next to him. He managed to distract himself for the rest of the trip by imagining Yami's reaction when he returned alongside Ryou in his own body, and by thinking of all the things he would do to get back at the Pharaoh for putting him through this in the first place - and of all the wonderful things he would do to Ryou. With that in mind, he almost didn't even mind the rest of the flight.

_(continued in Chapter 2)_


	2. In Which Plan B Gets Complicated

Title: Anything's Possible 2/8

Author: Tsutsuji

Summary: Bakura wants his own body and Yami won't cooperate, so Bakura and Ryou track down an evil genius who might be able to help: Dr. Drakken.

Crossover with Yugioh & Kim Possible

Warnings: Shounen-ai, Crossover, my poor attempts at humor

/.../ indicates thought-speak between spirit and host (yami and hikari). ... indicates emphasis.

REWRITTEN: Minor changes in this chapter. Bigger changes in later chapters!

Anything's Possible part 2: In Which Plan B Gets Complicated

Bakura didn't like to admit that he couldn't have done any of this without Ryou's particular skills and resources. For one thing, Ryou spoke English almost as well as he spoke Japanese, having learned it while traveling with his parents as a child. (He also had a handy traveler's smattering of other European languages. As Bakura laughingly put it, he knew a dozen different ways to be painfully polite.)

Ryou also had one of those handy little pieces of plastic with an almost limitless value, and while Bakura could have thieved his way across the U.S, Ryou's father's good credit made it so much simpler. On the other hand, Ryou's tendency to be polite beyond even the traditional Japanese standard sometimes slowed things down a bit. This was especially notable in contrast to the manners of most of the Americans they met which shocked even Bakura.

"Have I just been inside your head for too long, or are these people all incredibly rude?" Bakura wondered after scaring off the third person who had ogled, groped, or insulted Ryou inside an hour. It had started as soon as they got off the plane in San Francisco and it hadn't stopped. "A little visit to the Shadow Realm might teach them to respect you, Yadonushi," he added, grinning.

/No, Bakura, don't do that. They don't mean any harm, anyway./

"You are far too forgiving," Bakura said. "They certainly don't mean any good. Trust me, I know bad intentions when I see them."

Ryou was more concerned with how they were going to find the one person they were looking for in all the vast area of the United States. However, after landing in San Francisco and getting his bearings, Bakura seemed to know exactly where they were going. Unfortunately, since the one thing Ryou didn't have was a driver's license, they had to go there by bus.

The novelty of the endlessly flat landscape seen from a Greyhound bus window quickly wore off, and after a long day and a half of constant travel, Ryou grew tired of staring at the long straight road and the distant hills which never seemed to get any closer. He was jet-lagged and couldn't sleep, even though his internal clock told him it was the middle of the night back home. He returned to worrying about where they were going and what they were going to do when they got there.

/How did you find out about this 'evil genius' we're going to see, anyway?/ Ryou asked his other self. He was staring out the darkening window. The Spirit managed to make his reflection appear in the glass, which made it look as if he was sitting on the lap of the elderly black woman in the seat next to Ryou.

/I did a search on the Internet for evil geniuses,/ Bakura answered.

/What? You're not serious!/

/Everyone in the world has a website but you, Ryou./

/My god, you are serious./

Bakura chuckled. /And you are so gullible. Of course it wasn't that simple. I did use the internet to gather information on anyone who knows robotics, genetics, chaos theory and dark magic, and who was unscrupulus enough to use them all together. This Dr. Drakken comes close enough. He's not up on dark magic, but we can work with him on that. And he does call himself an evil genius. I did not make that up./

/How do we know he'll be willing to help us?/

/We don't. Self-proclaimed evil geniuses generally aren't the helpful type. We'll have to convince him./ Bakura sounded like he relished the thought.

/I should have known,/ Ryou thought miserably. This wasn't necessarily going to be any easier than getting Yami to help. In fact, convincing a self-proclaimed evil genius to do something he didn't want to do sounded a lot like, well, like trying to convince Bakura to do something he didn't want to do. Almost exactly, in fact.

To Ryou's surprise, it wasn't very difficult to find this Dr. Drakken. He was well known in the underground world of high tech criminals and evil genius types that lurked throughout middle America, and Bakura, with his old instincts as King of Thieves, had no trouble tapping into that network. In fact, a lot of people were glad of a chance to gripe about Drakke. He was having a bad year, thanks to an adept hero who had become his arch-enemy, and apparently he was broke. He'd stiffed a number of suppliers of expensive parts for high-tech doomsday devices and several landlords specializing in high-tech criminal lairs.

"Yeah, and when you find old blue-face, tell him I'm coming for that money he owes me, as soon as I get the IRS off my tail," was a common refrain.

/I wonder why they keep calling him that?/ Ryou wondered.

/I have no idea,/ Bakura said. He was more interested in the fact that Drakken seemed to have alienated all the hired help as well, leaving him without henchmen or guards.

"Isn't that convenient?" he said when he heard this.

After three days of constant travel, Ryou found himself paying off a taxi driver at the entrance to an industrial complex on the outskirts of a place called Middleton. It was a Sunday afternoon and the place looked deserted. Rows of nondescript one-story buildings and garage bays almost as big as airplaine hangers, interspersed with small power plants, stretched across acres of paved lots.

"This doesn't look like the lair of an evil genius," Ryou said doubtfully.

/It's the unit on the far end,/ Bakura pointed out. /The one with the small missile launching pad next to the side entrance, and all the satellite receiver equipment on the roof, and the high-voltage security fence, and the automated laser security system; see, you can just see the laser guns peeking out of the upper windows./

"Ah... it would be that one," Ryou said, gulping nervously.

/I'll do this,/ Bakura said, and Ryou gladly let him take over.

---

Bakura avoided all the electronic security measures with disappointing ease. He was inside the complex within minutes, hardly working up an adrenaline rush from breaking in. He strolled along a twisting corrider seeking the heart of Drakken's operations.

Most of the small laboratory rooms he passed seemed currently unused, full of outdated equipment that was just gathering dust. He was on the verge of becoming discouraged and about to get angry when his sharp ears caught sounds of activity: tapping and tinkering sounds along with a nearly-constant muttering, punctuated by an occasional loud outburst as someone apparently hit a finger with a hammer or dropped a heavy tool on a foot.

He listened carefully as he got closer. There was only one voice. Drakken was indeed working alone, which didn't seem to stop him from ranting. Bakura smiled and crept on, thankful that Ryou's nicely broken-in sneakers didn't squeak on the highly polished floor.

He came upon a section of corridor with windows looking into larger laboratories, and soon found one of these that was being used as a workshop. He peered cautiously through the glass, only to find that there was no need to be so careful.

Inside the lab, the man he assumed was Drakken was completely engrossed in his work, building... something. Bakura couldn't guess what it might be, as it seemed to include parts from a helicopter cockpit melded to a Bowflex exercise machine and several kitchen appliances. After watching the genius at work for a few minutes, he sauntered into the room and walked right up behind Drakken, looking over his shoulder.

Dr. Drakken was a rather stocky man in a blue lab coat, his dark hair pulled back into a short ponytail. He grumbled something unintelligable as he tried to solder an eggbeater into a slot on the helicopter's control panel. His gloved fingers were clumsy, and the part didn't seem to want to fit.

/Are you sure this is the right man?/ Ryou wondered, very doubtful.

Bakura didn't answer, but grinned at the man's back.

"The new doomsday device seems to be coming along nicely," he said loudly. Drakken jumped several inches and dropped the soldering iron onto his foot.

"Gah! What...?" he said, spinning around.

/It's the right man,/ Bakura thought calmly. /As you can see./

/Oh, yes, I guess you're right. There can't be many evil geniuses with blue skin,/ Ryou agreed.

Drakken was busy sputtering at the interruption. "It's not a doomsday device, it's a robotic kitchen. There's no decent takeout anywhere around here. Who are you? What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy? And how did you get in here anyway?"

"To answer your questions in reverse order, I walked in, yes I can see you're terribly busy, and I want you to make me a new body. And I am called Bakura."

"You want ... what?" Drakken said flatly.

"A new body. I know that you have access to equipment that can manipulate DNA, and that you are adept at robotics, and that you have had some success with cloning. You are going to use those skills to make me a new body for my spirit to inhabit."

Drakken gave him a quick glance up and down. "Oh? And just why should I bother? Anyway, the body you've got seems alright to me.... although now that you mention it, it is a bit on the pretty side... still that 'metrosexual' look is popular with the girls these days, or so I've heard, can't see what they see in it myself...."

"SILENCE!" Bakura roared, making the evil genius jump again. He'd had it with people insulting Ryou's looks. If he didn't need Drakken, the idiot would be on his way to the Shadow Realm already.

"Fool, you will use the DNA from this body to make the new one. And you should bother because if you don't, I'll send your soul to the Shadow Realm, and I can guarantee you there's no decent takeout there, either," Bakura said, leering at Drakken. "In fact, in the Shadow Realm, you'll be the dinner for creatures more horrible than you can imagine."

Drakken cocked his head. "Are you threatening me?" he asked. He sounded as if he really wasn't sure.

For answer, Bakura took a step back from him and raised his hands, his fingers and thumbs making a circle in front of his chest. There was a glowing light between his hands, out of which the Millenium Ring appeared. Bakura watched with satisfaction as Drakken's eyes grew wide in surprise, but then the scientist scowled skeptically at the Ring.

"Eh... what does that do?" he asked.

"With the power of the Millenium Ring, I can do... this!" Bakura raised his hands, the Ring flashed brightly, and a beam of light shot out from it and slammed into Drakken. The power of the Ring lifted him two feet up in the air and pinned him against the control console.

Bakura took a menacing step towards him, delighting in the look of fear and confusion on Drakken's face. He let the light of the Ring's power dance around them, sharpening shadows. He knew exactly how demonic he appeared in this light. He laughed as Drakken's hand came up to cover his face in fear.

"Now, you will agree to help me, won't you?" Bakura said, his voice almost purring.

"Ah.. anything you say, Mr. Bakura, was it? Aha, there's not a lot I can do from up here, of course, you'll have to ... .put me down?"

"That's better," Bakura said. He let the Ring's power subside, grabbing Drakken by the front of his lab coat as he slid down off the console. Drakken cowered as Bakura pulled him close so they were face to face. "I knew you'd see reason."

As the flash of the Ring subsided to a green-tinged golden glow, Drakken peeked out from between his fingers. "What on earth are you?" he gasped. "How can anyone so pretty be so strong? Oh wait," he went on, his voice suddenly changing from a whine to a growl, "I know someone else who's pretty _and_ strong, come to think of it."

Before Bakura could wonder what he meant, something grabbed his hair from behind, pulling his head back so heard he thought his neck would snap

"Get him, Shego!" Drakken roared.

Bakura shoved Drakken back hard against the console and spun around to face his new attacker, trying to twist out of the painful grip on his hair. He was startled to find that Shego was a woman -- a young, shapely woman in a form-fitting body suit of green and black, her dark eyes narrowed in her smiling face. Long black hair swirled around her face like a cloud of shadow magic. As striking as she looked, the most noticeable thing about her was the gloved hand that was raised to strike, which glowed with a strange green energy.

"Not sure why you want a new body, pretty boy, but the one you've got is going down," Shego announced.

He barely dodged her glowing fist by spinning around and throwing himself backward against her. She lost her grip on his hair and went down with a grunt, but he could feel her tensing to spring back up and throw him off even as he caught his own breath from the fall. He rolled aside and crouched, ready to tackle her, but she twisted on her back and aimed a kick at his head which he barely had time to avoid.

Scrambling to his feet, he looked around for something to use as a weapon against her, concerned to find that both her fists were glowing now. Whatever she was packing in her punch, he didn't want to experience its effects first hand. She sprang to her feet like an acrobat and faced him in a battle stance.

He recognized the look on her face. Clearly she enjoyed putting her talents to use in a good fight just as he did, and he guessed she enjoyed hurting her opponent as much as he enjoyed terrorizing his.

/Be careful!/ Ryou thought in alarm. /She looks dangerous!/

/Actually, she looks... interesting,/ Bakura thought. He knew the smile on his own face nearly mirrored hers.

/Use your deck,/ Ryou urged.

"Yes," Bakura said aloud, "Perhaps it is time for a demonstration of my real power." He reached for the deck of Duel Monsters cards in his jeans back pocket.

"Look out, Shego," Drakken yelled.

"Oh no, I don't think so, my pretty," Shego said in a warning tone, but her grin widened.

Bakura pulled out a card at random. It didn't matter if it was the weakest monster in the deck, he was counting on the creature's appearance out of nowhere to distract her while he came up with a better strategy.

But she was even quicker than he'd realized, and a lot more limber. He had the card in his hand, ready to call forth the monster from the shadow dimension where it lurked, when her foot came up like lightning and connected with his wrist. There was a loud snap, and the card fluttered out of fingers suddenly gone numb.

"Oops, did we break something?" Shego said, springing back.

For the moment the pain was numbed by shock at what she'd done. He glared at her as she crouched, ready for any move he might make. Then she took a close look at what he had in his good hand, and laughed.

"Wait, you were coming at me with a deck of cards? What am I missing here?"

"Careful, Shego, he's tricky!" Drakken warned.

"What you are missing is this," Bakura hissed, flicking the top card off the deck at her.

She quirked an eyebrow, apparently curious to see what he had planned. Clearly she thought that whatever it was, it would be no match for her fighting skill. Bakura intended to enjoy proving her wrong. She ducked easily as the card whizzed by her head.

"Wow, that was impressive," she said sarcastically. She moved toward him, looking like a snake ready to strike.

"What the... ? Shego! Look out!"

Bakura was impressed at Shego's concentration; she almost succeeded in ignoring Drakken's panicked cries from behind her. But finally she glanced around, just in time to see a fat, angry-looking penguin swinging a sword at her head. Penguin Soldier, Attack Points 750, Defense Points 500 Shego ducked and the sword missed by several inches. Her fighting instincts had not deserted her, but at least she looked suitably shocked.

"Okay, that _was_ impressive," she admitted, dodging the blade once again. Bakura took advantage of the moment to glance at his deck, seeking something more suitable with which to immobilize her.

"Alright, ducky," she said angrily, jumping back a third time. She'd put herself between the Penguin Soldier and Drakken, and Bakura could see her calculating her next move. The penguin wasn't very strong and its reach was short. He needed to be ready in case she was actually able to defeat it. He tried to keep an eye on her while he searched for the card he wanted, but he was hampered by having one hand now useless.

She crouched again in a serious fighting stance, her fists glowing green and black. The penguin swung wildly at her knees. She dodged it easily this time and used her momentum to spin around and strike it with both fists. Bakura found the card he wanted, his nimble fingers ready to flick it out from the middle of the deck. He looked up to aim it at Shego just in time to see the Penguin Soldier hurtling head over tailfeathers at him.

He ducked, trying to protect his injured hand and his deck as well as his head, but it was no use. The penguin slammed into him and then exploded in a shower of sparks. The shock of its destruction knocked most of the cards out of Bakura's hand, as well as sending him a step backwards. He was glad he hadn't randomly pulled something defensively stronger, but then he hadn't expected to have it used against him.

"Heh," he heard Shego say. He looked up, snarling at her, ready to hit back with whatever he had left in his hand, all of his cards at once, even if that took all the Shadow Magic he could muster at one time. She'd moved in close while he was reeling and was now inches away, ready to strike..

"Uh-uh," she said. "No more card tricks today."

She brought her fists together and aimed them at his face,. He threw up his hand, shielding himself with the deck of cards. At the same time she brought her knee up to slam into his injured wrist.

Pain shot through Bakura's arm as the power in her hands hit his fistful of cards. Shadow magic met with the mysterious force in her hands. There was a sound like a crack of thunder.

Shego grunted as she was knocked backward, but she landed on her feet. Bakura felt himself lifted in the air and tossed backward. He landed hard on his back on the floor with the air knocked out of him. He felt nearly numb all over, except, of course, for his throbbing wrist.

He felt Ryou's presence hovering in his mind, alarmed and concerned.

/You better take over,/ he thought vaguely, as the world faded to black.

---

"...out cold. No, wait, he's coming around."

Ryou fought his way to consciousness, knowing he wasn't going to like what he'd see when he got there. His body tingled strangely, and there was a fiery pain in his right wrist, and he couldn't move; it was difficult to breath.

As he opened his eyes he realized the reason for the last two sensations: Shego was sitting on his chest, pinning his arms to his sides against the floor. Standing over them, Drakken gingerly looked through Bakura's Duel Monsters cards.

"Ugly," he said, flipping past one to peer at the next. "Gross. Ooh, that one's interesting."

"Hey, pretty boy, welcome back."

Ryou blinked up at her. "Back? What? Where am I? What happened?"

"Sorry, my pretty, that's not going to work," Shego said, shaking her head. "I know you took a big hit but I'm not buying the amnesia routine."

"Oh dear," Ryou said fretfully. "He's done something terrible this time, hasn't he?"

"He who?" Drakken snapped, glaring down at him. "_You_ did some pretty interesting, "terrible" things, for which I'd like an explanation. How do these work?" He brandished the cards.

"I'm sorry," Ryou said. "I don't know what happened. I don't know how he does it, I've never even seen it. I hope he didn't hurt anyone," he added earnestly.

"Liar," Drakken said. "You used this card --" he held up the Penguin Soldier card, which Ryou was distressed to see had gotten bent, " -- to create some sort of solid-holo-dimensional monster thingy, which made a very nifty explosion as well. I could use technology like that. So what is it, microchip, holograms, multi-level liquid state processors, what...?"

"Penguin Soldier?" Ryou mused, as if to himself. "Why did he pick such a weak card? Still, you're lucky, if it had been something stronger like..."

"Oh, stop with the 'he,' it was you," Drakken said, stomping impatiently. "Admit it and explain, or Shego will break a few more of your bones while we're waiting."

"Hold on a minute," Shego said. She was staring at Ryou intently.

"What? Why?"

"Something freaky about this, boss. Take a good look."

Drakken peered down at Ryou, who looked from one to the other of them in confusion.

"So?" Drakken snapped. "What am I looking for?"

"What was all that stuff you were saying when you came in here, about making a new body?" Shego asked Ryou.

Ryou blinked and stammered. "That.. wasn't me," he said finally. "That was my Other Self."

"Uh-huh, likely story," Drakken said. But Shego seemed interested.

"What happened to that fancy piece of jewelry you were wearing? Where'd it go? I know you had it on when I was trying to beat the crap out of you. Now it's gone."

"Oh yes, that," Drakken said with renewed interest. "I almost forgot, the thing that flashed in my face and knocked me over. I definitely want to know more about that!"

"That's the Millenium Ring. There's an evil spirit trapped inside of it," Ryou said. "I know you won't believe it, but it's true. Sometimes he takes over and then... I don't know what happens."

"Shego, you're not falling for this fairy story, are you?" Drakken said derisively, but at the same time he took a step backwards, away from Ryou. He looked nervous.

"I don't know, I've seen some weird stuff. And maybe you didn't get a good look at this kid when you were busy cowering from him, but I did, and he looked different. He was pretty before, but he's even prettier now. And he didn't have brown eyes."

"What's the pretty got to do with it?" Drakken muttered, sounding peeved.

She glared at Ryou. "So what, you've got an evil twin who takes over and makes you do bad things? Is that the story?"

"Well, I guess you could put it like that," Ryou agreed. "I don't seem to have any power over him at all. I think it's got something to do with ancient Egypt, where the card game of Duel Monsters originated 3000 years ago. Apparently there's some kind of link between the cards and the Ring, and this spirit who can control them."

"What are you saying, that he's a ghost? That this boy is possessed by some ancient Egyptian spirit? That's impossible. Isn't it?" Drakken sounded more like he thought it _was_ possible and he didn't much like the idea.

"Yeah, and I was attacked by a penguin with a sword, which is also impossible on most days of the week."

"Well.... good point," Drakken conceded.

They thought about it, silently staring down at Ryou.

"I'm terribly sorry," he said meekly, "But do you think you could let me up? Or at least, if you would, take your knee off my right arm? My wrist is quite painful. It feels like it might be broken."

Shego stared at him a moment longer. Then she shifted her leg, letting his right arm free.

"Thank you... ahhh.." Ryou moved his arm slowly, wincing in pain.

"Yeah, you're right, it's probably broken," Shego said matter-of-factly. "Sorry about that." She didn't sound sorry.

"I'm sure it was necessary," Ryou said politely, gritting his teeth. Moving the wrist hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"Well?" Drakken said at last. "What should we do with him? Or them.. .whatever."

"I think we better lock him up for now, until we can figure out what's going on here. And keep those cards away from him. No more exploding penguins."

"Exploding penguins, what about exploding ... what is this?" He peered closely at a card. "The writing's in Japanese, but it looks like a giant bug. Yuck, that would be a mess if it exploded. Still, I want to know how these work!" He brandished the cards at Ryou. "Power like this I can use in my quest for world domination!" he cried.

"I was waiting for you to say that," Shego said cheerfully.

She got off Ryou and pulled him to his feet. He was still a little numb and felt unsteady. Shego, firm but not uneccessarily rough, led him across the room and through a door. There was a dusty office on the other side, with a bare metal desk, a broken swivel chair, and a beat up sofa covered in orange naugahyde.

"I'll get some bandages to wrap up your wrist," she said.

"Thank you," Ryou said gratefully, cradeling the injured arm.

"Hey, no problem. Besides it'll make the handcuffs stay on your skinny wrists better." She winked at him just before she closed the door. He heard it lock.

"If your freaky friend returns, tell him to knock on the door and let us know," Drakken called through the door. "I want to talk to him."

Ryou sat on the orange sofa, trying not to moan out loud at the pain in his arm which seemed to be getting worse by the moment.

Bakura appeared, standing beside him, translucent in the dimly lit room.

"Well," he said, gazing at the locked door with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Apart from the unexpected bodyguard and a broken wrist, that went very well. Don't you agree?"

He looked down at Ryou.

"Yes. Perfect," Ryou said, and passed out.

(continued in chapter three)


	3. In Which Bakura Makes a Deal

Title: Anything's Possible. Chapter 3/8

Author: Tsutsuji

Warnings: Shonen ai, more lame humor.

(Author's Notes: Honda Tristan, but I prefer his Japanese name.

REWRITTEN, minor changes in this chapter, more in later chapters.)

-- Interlude One: Telephone conversation, Domino City, Japan --

"Honda, have you seen Ryou?"

"Not since Friday at school, Yugi. Come to think of it, I didn't see him around on Saturday, and he's usually at the computer lab in the morning. Why, what's up?"

"Well, probably nothing... His Other Self isn't very happy with Yami at the moment, and I'm afraid he might keep Ryou from hanging around with the rest of us because of it."

"Uh-oh. I thought they'd managed to call a truce?"

"They did, but now Bakura wants Yami to do something for him and Yami won't do it."

"I'm not surprised. Anything Bakura wants isn't likely to be a good thing! What did he want?"

"He asked Yami to give him his own body."

"No kidding! Okay, that's gotta be a bad idea. I'm glad Yami said no, even if it did tick Bakura off. Uh, could he even do that?"

"Yami's not sure, but it might be possible using the magic of the Millennium Items and the power of the Shadow Realm. Yami thinks there might be very bad consequences if it did work, though."

"I agree, Bakura running around on his own is a scary idea. I just hope he doesn't make life miserable for Ryou because of this."

"Well, you know Ryou can stand up to his Other Self when he has to. But I've been wondering about something else as well...."

"What is it, Yugi?"

"Well, I was thinking: what if Bakura thinks there's another way for him to get his own body? I mean… it might not be so bad, really…"

"You've gotta be kidding, Yug! I'm gonna count on seeing Ryou back in school on Monday, and not Bakura!"

"Um-hm. I guess you're probably right, Honda…."

- end Interlude One –

Chapter Three: In Which Bakura and Drakken make a Deal

Shego wasn't kidding about the handcuffs – they were the first thing Ryou noticed when he woke up. On the positive side he found that his wrist was only a dull, aching throb, actually quite bearable.

As he struggled to sit up, he discovered he'd been covered with a blanket and had a pillow under his head. Even so, his back was stiff from sleeping on the short sofa. He couldn't believe he'd been out long enough and deep enough for Shego to have done all this, including wrapping his wrist in a surprisingly effective splint and bandages. He wondered whether Bakura had been awake for any of the time he'd been asleep.

Ryou managed to sit up, grateful that at least his hands were cuffed in front. He became even more grateful for this when he realized that a plate of food had been left on the desk. The last time he'd eaten was before taking the taxi to get here, very early in the morning. He couldn't tell how long ago that had been but judging by his appetite, it had been quite a while.

He had just figured out how to maneuver the fork with his left hand cuffed to his heavily bandaged right hand when Bakura's dim form appeared opposite him at the other side of the desk.

"Are you sure you want to eat that?" the spirit asked. "It might have come from that kitchen contraption the mad scientist was building."

Ryou paused, fork poised in mid-air over the plastic plate of what appeared to be enchiladas. He thought it was probably the frozen kind heated in a microwave. It smelled like Mexican food, and although that wasn't his favorite, his stomach growled.

"I don't care, I'm starving," he said after a moment's hesitation, and dug in.

Bakura watched him eat in silence. Ryou wondered why he was staring so intently, as if he really expected the food to be poisonous or something, but he didn't let it slow him down. Several minutes later he let the fork drop with a clatter onto the plastic tray and sat back, feeling much better. Bakura was still watching him closely.

"Did I miss anything? Were you awake at all for this?" Ryou asked, holding up his bandaged arm.

"Not really. I started to wake up when Shego came in with the bandages and the handcuffs, but she gave you a whiff of something, probably chloroform, and I couldn't fight it."

"She did a good job, if it was her," Ryou said, looking more closely at his wrist.

"I doubt it was that klutz, Drakken," Bakura said dismissively. "And I'm quite sure there's no one else on the premises. It was nice of her to tuck you in," he added in a leering tone. "Maybe next time you can get her to give you a goodnight kiss."

"I don't think she's the type to do that," Ryou said. He knew Bakura was joking, but he wasn't quite sure if the joke was on Shego or on him, so he took his usual tactic of ignoring it and changing the subject.

"Anyway, what happens next? What are you expecting them to do? I don't think Drakken believed me," he added.

"He wants to believe," Bakura said. "He'll believe in anything if he thinks he can use it in his quest for power."

"I'm still not sure how that's going to get him to make you a body," Ryou said.

"Wait and see, Yadonushi," Bakura said.

Ryou didn't have long to wait. Drakken was pounding on the door shortly after he'd finished eating.

"Your turn," Ryou said wearily. The Spirit smiled and faded from view. Ryou's eyes closed.

When they opened a second later, it was Bakura looking out at the world.

He stood up and went to the door, absently tugging on the handcuffs as he did so.

"I'm here," he said quietly through the door. "Let's talk."

The door was unlocked and Drakken entered. He was brandishing some kind of weapon. Bakura stifled his laughter; it looked like a very cheap toy ray gun.

He took Shego's glowing hands much more seriously, though, as she followed her boss into the room, looking like she was itching for another fight. Bakura glanced past Drakken and caught her eye, grinning; he wouldn't mind going another round with her, either. She just smiled back at him.

"Ah, I see what you mean, Shego," Drakken said, looking at Bakura from head to toe and then peering sharply at his face. "It's the eyes, isn't it?"

"And the attitude," Shego muttered.

"Okay, start explaining. What's this all about?"

"It's about ancient magic, and a great deal of power, more power than you can imagine," Bakura said haughtily. He guessed what effect that would have on Drakken.

"Oh, I don't know, I can imagine quite a lot. Power to do what, exactly?"

"Power to destroy or control the world, and bring forth chaos. You saw the creature I conjured, and that was only one weak monster. There are many others that can be drawn from the Shadow Realm to do my bidding."

"Uh-huh. Not without these, though, am I right?"

Drakken waved the deck of cards in front of Bakura's face. Bakura resisted the urge to try to grab them with his cuffed hands.

"The cards help to summon the monsters, but they are only one part of my power."

He proceeded to explain about the powers of the soul, the ancient Egyptian concepts of "ba" and "ka," and the forms of the creatures that could be summoned. Drakken listened with a parade of expressions crossing his face: interest, skepticism, eagerness, and plain bewilderment. But at the mention of the Millennium Items, his eyes narrowed and gleamed.

"Ah yes, that glowing ring that seems to have disappeared entirely. Shego, you're certain you made a thorough search for it?"

"Absolutely. I couldn't have missed it."

Bakura noted Ryou's alarm at realizing that he'd been searched, as his other checked to make sure the Ring was still in its usual place, under his shirt, cool against his skin. Ryou was puzzled, wondering how thorough the search could have been, and why Shego hadn't found the Ring and taken it. The thought that she might have done so had him near panic. Bakura gave a low laugh.

"You won't find the Ring, no matter how heard you search, unless you can reach into the Shadow Realm for it, and I'm quite sure you don't have the strength for that. At least, not yet. But I may be able to teach you, if you are willing."

"Teach me what? I'm not interested in a lot of hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo so-called magic. I'm a scientist, not a magician," Drakken said. He sounded dismissive, but Bakura was certain he was intrigued in spite of himself.

"I might be able to show you how to harness this power for yourself, but it would depend on the strength of your spirit whether you could make any use of it or not. As I've already explained, to the people of Egypt 3000 years ago, this was science. What does it matter what words you use for it? I've already demonstrated how well it works. I don't need to know how it works to be able to use it."

Drakken gave him a look of disgust. "Superstition is not science. I am a scientist," he said, puffing himself up to his full height, which was only a little taller than the tip of Yami Yugi's spiky hair. "I'm not interested in your parlor tricks!"

Bakura glared at him. The man was being ridiculous.

There was the sound of muffled laughter behind Drakken. Uncertain which one of them she was laughing at, they both turned to glare at Shego.

"Quite the pair of egos you two are," she said, smirking. "Y'know, Drakken, Lord Monkey Fist does stuff like this all the time," she continued, "and there was that wrestler who transformed himself into a super-wrestler with some ancient amulet or something, remember that story? Anyway, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' I don't need an explanation for this—" she brandished her glowing fists "—to be able to use it."

"Huh." Drakken said, looking from Bakura to her and back again. "I suppose Shego has a point. But what exactly do you expect me to do for you, if you don't even have a rational explanation for your, er, condition?"

Bakura did let his laughter escape. Drakken using the word "rational" was too funny.

"My condition of being a dead spirit inhabiting a borrowed body, you mean?" he said. "I can tell you part of what you must do, and you, as the scientist, will have to figure out the rest.

"To put it as simply as possible, I believe it will be possible to use the power of the Millennium Ring to transfer my spirit into another body, but it must be a body that does not already have a soul. That is why I need you to make me a new body, using your cloning technology or whatever it is you have to do. Since I am linked with this vessel," he said, indicating Ryou's body, "I expect that the new body must be a replica of this one in order for me to inhabit it permanently. Once you've made the new body, I can perform what you would call a ritual to transfer my spirit into it. Do you understand?"

"We provide the science, you do the magic," Shego summarized.

"Well put," Bakura confirmed.

"I understand all that, except for one thing," Drakken said. "Why should I? You're not exactly in a position to bargain," he added, looking pointedly at the handcuffs.

Bakura frowned at his trapped and bandaged wrists. He stared down at his hands, as if thinking very hard, considering his options. Finally he sighed dramatically.

"Unfortunately, it seems that I am at a disadvantage," he admitted. "It appears that you are the only one in the world who can do what needs to be done, and I have no choice but to cooperate with you."

"Maybe not," Shego said. "What about D N Ay--iee.…"

"Silence, Shego!" Drakken roared, turning on her with his teeth barred, foam flying from the corner of his mouth. "Don't mention that name in my presence! Anyway, our friend is right, I am his only hope," he continued, pulling himself together with one final shudder. "But we already know that. Flattery, especially if it's true, will get you far but not all the way. In other words, I'm still not convinced I have any reason to help you."

Bakura scowled at him, but went on calmly.

"As I already said, I can demonstrate how the power works, and possibly train you to harness it -- if the calling forth of creatures with great destructive power who are bound to do your bidding is of any interest to you, that is."

Drakken's eyebrow twitched. Bakura had noticed that it tended to do that at any mention of the word "power."

"An army of creatures at your command," Bakura continued. "Wouldn't that be worth the effort of making one new body?"

Twitch. Twitch.

"Hand over that Ring and I'll consider it," Drakken said, surprisingly smoothly for someone whose eyebrow was doing a hip-hop dance.

Bakura smiled. "I need the Ring to complete the ritual. After I'm in my new body, I'll have no further need of it, and the Ring will be yours. If you think you can handle that much power."

Drakken twitched some more. Inside his mind, Bakura felt Ryou fairly buzzing in alarm, his thoughts barely coherent. /Give them the Ring?? Our Ring? My Ring??/

/Gullible!/ Bakura thought at him. Ryou suddenly realized Bakura was lying to them, and his thoughts subsided into a quieter whirl of confusion.

Bakura turned his attention back to Drakken, whose eyes had glazed over as he apparently envisioned an army of Penguin Soldiers and Man-Eater Bugs at his command. Bakura waited, trying not to smile too broadly as his bait was taken.

"What do you think, Shego?" Drakken asked, pulling himself together and glancing at his assistant. "You seem to be up on this magical nonsense. Think it's worth a try?"

She shrugged. "As long as you're not cloning me, I don't see the harm in it. You're between projects at the moment, anyway."

"Hmmmm… alright, I'll consider your offer of that Ring in exchange for my expertise and assistance in making you a new body. No guarantees, you understand! And you remain my prisoner. The handcuffs stay on and these cards stay in my pocket."

Bakura frowned and gave a small snarl of frustration. "Very well," he muttered, "For the time being. However, I'll need some special materials for the transference ritual."

"And I'll need some equipment for the cloning and construction of the body. Including a sample of your DNA, of course."

"Ahem…" Shego interrupted. "I already took the liberty…" she held up a vial, wagging it at Bakura. It held a lock of Ryou's silvery-white hair. "Got a few skin cells, too."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but in fact he was pleased with her initiative and her grasp of the situation. It occurred to him that Drakken alone might well have been useless, but the pair of them, while more dangerous, were just what he needed.

"Great," Drakken said, rubbing his hands together. "We may as well get started then."

"Tell me what you need and I'll pick it up," Shego said to both of them. "I'm in the mood for a little 'shopping' trip, anyway."

"You're a thief as well as a bodyguard," Bakura said, unable to hide the admiration in his voice. "I should have expected as much."

"Yes, Shego's very versatile," Drakken said dismissively. She glared at his back.

Bakura smiled. "I can see that," he said. She glared at him as well.

"This is what we'll need…." Bakura said, and proceeded to give her a list of items. She nodded as if the bizarre assortment of materials was as common as bread and milk from the grocery store. Drakken added his own requests to the list, ending with "and find some decent take-out. Those frozen dinners are disgusting."

They closed and locked the door to his little room, and Bakura sat down on the orange sofa with a sigh.

/You're not really planning on giving Drakken the Ring, then?/ was Ryou's first anxious thought.

/Of course not, stupid,/ Bakura thought, but he was too pleased with himself to sound harsh. /That was only to put the idea in Drakken's head. The mere thought of gaining control of that will keep him on track for the time being./

/Then, he's really going to do it?/ Ryou thought, amazed. /This really might work!/

/It had better. But it won't be this simple, I'm sure,/ Bakura mused.

/What do you mean? Do you think they aren't really going to go through with it? Or don't you really think it can be done?/ Ryou fretted. /You don't think it will be dangerous to you, do you?/

/There's a small risk, but it will be well worth it if we succeed. No, I only mean that Drakken isn't the type to enter into a simple partnership. He'll want all the power in the end. If he's not shrewd enough to figure out that I have no intention of letting him have any at all, Shego probably is, so eventually they'll realize I was lying and they'll come up with a plan to take the Ring anyway./

Ryou became alarmed again, and puzzled. /I don't understand how they didn't manage to take it already. Why didn't Shego find it?/

Bakura placed his hand over the hard metal shape of the Ring, pressing it lightly against his chest so that Ryou could feel its solid presence. /Don't worry, it's still here. No one can see it unless I will them to. Didn't you know that? How do you think I kept it hidden from Yugi and his friends all this time? Even that bloodhound, Shadi, couldn't detect it when it was right in front of him. It can't be seen or felt by anyone else. Trust me, Drakken isn't going to get the Millennium Ring or any Shadow powers. He just can't know that yet./

Ryou sighed, mentally nodding that he trusted Bakura to know what he was doing. But he was still concerned.

/How long do you think this will take? We've been gone three days already. I'm missing school, and I didn't tell anyone that I was going away; they'll be worried./

/They'll probably think I've done something unpleasant to you,/ Bakura thought, finding the idea amusing. /I'm afraid it might take some time, so be patient, Yadonushi. I've had to wait longer than this to get something I wanted. If all goes as I've planned, we'll be together soon./

He felt Ryou smile warmly at that thought, but his Other was still worried. To distract him, he began to picture what they would do once they had two bodies, once they could look into each other's eyes and touch each other. Ryou's thoughts grew very warm, indeed….

-- Interlude Two --

"What's the 'sitch,' Wade?"

"Well, it's odd, Kim. Could be just a bunch of break-ins and robberies that would normally be simple police business. I wouldn't even bring it up except for one thing that puts it right on your menu."

"Oh?"

"It's like this: someone's been raiding all the New Age and magick stores in the state over the last three days. The only things being taken are pyramid-shaped crystals, some gold jewelry (but not necessarily the most valuable gold jewelry), and a kind of stone called Dragon's Blood, which is used by wiccans in their rituals. Several of the items are popular with people who are into the whole vampire myth, since they're linked with the idea of immortality and raising the dead."

"And it's nowhere near Halloween! Is that all?"

"Not quite. One of the stores had a bunch of very high-tech electronic equipment and a cash drawer full of money, but those weren't touched. But, there was also a raid on a high-security research lab in the same area. No info yet on what was actually taken. And, get this: one report of a break-in at a blood bank! All in the same area and on the same days."

"Well, yeah, that's all weird and creepy, but is there anything else to go on? I guess I could check out the Goths here at school for information, but it's a little hard to get past the hairy-eyeball factor with them."

"Yeah, I've heard that Goths and cheerleaders don't mix so well. But you probably don't need to. There's one other piece of info, and it's the really weird part. A security camera in one of the stores caught a glimpse of the thief. Not enough for a solid identification, but the description is of a young female, long dark hair, long dark green trench coat, and - get this - a weird green glow coming from her hands."

"Shego?! She's creepy but she's hardly the Goth type, and she's definitely not New Age. What would Drakken want with that kind of stuff?"

"I hate to say it because it sounds silly, but if you add the idea of zombies and vampires to the idea of army of minions to take over the world, it makes a warped kind of sense."

"Eww, Drakken building a zombie army? That's even worse than an army of senior citizens. Okay, disturbingly creepy as it is, I'll check into it. Any idea where Drakken's hiding these days?"

"Not yet. His old lair is still under repair. I have a few possibilities for his temporary base of operations. Judging from the locations of the break-ins, he's not far away. But I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Please and thank you! Keep me posted, Wade."

"Will do, Kim!"

-- end Interlude Two --


	4. In Which Bakura Does Something Stupid

Anything's Possible, Chapter 4/8 REWRITTEN. Minor changes in this chapter. Bigger changes starting in chapter 5 - more B/R yaoi, less naked mole rat!

Author: Tsutsuji

Warnings: shonen-ai, het UST implied, still with the lame humor.

Notes: Sorry it's not funnier. I try, but I'm not great at humor. I'm pretty good at smut, though, and there's a totally lemon outtake from this chapter called "Steam," which is available on mediaminer and affnet.

---

Chapter Four: In Which Bakura Does Something Really Stupid.

Ryou soon discovered that once Dr. Drakken got his mind focused on something, he worked quickly. The hours seemed to pass slowly while he was mostly shut up in his little room or inside his head, but in fact it wasn't long before Shego came to the door again to show Bakura what she'd brought back from her "shopping trip."

The spirit took over briefly to give his approval for all that she'd found. In fact, he complimented her profusely for her skill in thievery, which Ryou found rather annoying. From his keyhole view of things, he noticed that Shego seemed quite unimpressed with Bakura's flattery.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," she muttered. "Look, all I want to know is, is this what you need or do I have to make another trip?"

"It's all perfect, as far as I can tell. When Drakken gets his side of things together I'll know better whether we need anything else. For now, this will do nicely."

"Yeah, well, I picked up a few more things for the boss," she said, glancing over her shoulder toward the door to the lab. "He decided to beef up security in this dump, just for you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Bakura said, almost purring at her in a way that Ryou found oddly disturbing.

"Whatever." Shego shrugged and went out, making a point of locking the door very carefully.

A few more hours passed, and Bakura retreated again, leaving Ryou to deal with the boredom of waiting. Eventually Shego returned again, this time with some hot, fresh takeout from a surprisingly decent Chinese restaurant.

"Couldn't find a Japanese restaurant, this is the best we can do," Shego said as she watched Ryou open the containers.

He smiled at her in appreciation as he sampled one of the dishes. "This is fine, thank you very much for your trouble," he said, automatically polite. She snorted at his politeness and stood by, watching him eat. When he was done, she motioned for him to stand up.

"Ready for a little trip? Nice little walk across the room, maybe?" she said, sounding suspiciously playful.

Ryou looked at her doubtfully.

"Come on, you need a change of scene," she said, tugging on his good arm. "Trust me, the change will do you good."

As he stepped outside the room for the first time in about ten hours, Ryou was amazed to see how much had been changed. The helicopter-kitchen contraption was shoved off to a corner and covered with a sheet. It had been replaced by rows of lab tables filled with a mixture of high-tech and old-fashioned laboratory equipment.

The scene reminded him all too fittingly of a Dr. Frankenstein movie set. Tall electrodes buzzed and shot off random blue sparks, a table full of beakers and test tubes bubbled and dripped, computers hummed and blinked, and in the midst of it all, there was a wide slab of a hospital gurney, complete with straps and wires waiting to be attached to a dormant body.

Ryou stared at the slab with wide, wondering eyes. He tried to imagine himself, or someone else who looked a great deal like him, lying there, just beginning to breathe…

He looked away. It was too much to think about.

Shego led him past all this and on across the room to another door. She pushed him through it, into another former office. But this one was much larger than the one in which he'd spent the day. It was outfitted with a bed, a table and two chairs. A smaller door within it led to a private bathroom.

The room in which he'd spent the day only had a small window, barely more than an air vent, high in the wall and mostly blocked by a tree. This room had a real window, although there were bars on the outside. Through them he could see a short stretch of pavement, a gravel-filled gully, and rising up beyond that a steep, rocky hillside.

"Don't bother trying to open that," Shego said, following his gaze, "unless you like nasty surprises." She was grinning.

Ryou noticed the wires attached to the bars and outside frame of the window. Alarms, or worse, he figured.

"I don't think he's planning to leave," he said. "He came to you for something, didn't he?"

She looked at him curiously.

"You don't know what he's after? The whole 'make me a new body' deal?"

Ryou's eyes widened. "Oh. You're really going to try that? I wasn't sure he really meant it. You see, he really doesn't tell me his plans," he added. He didn't bother to mention that this was mainly because Ryou couldn't lie to save his life. He hoped he was being convincing now. If they thought Ryou wasn't in on Bakura's schemes, they might let their guard down around him. "I have no idea what's going on most of the time," Ryou said. That was true enough that he could easily sound convincing.

"Yeah, well, Drakken's the cautious type, and neither of us plays well with others, so this is just our little way of making sure you both stick around. Besides, the doc's pretty ticked off that either you or your 'other half' waltzed in here past some of the best security money can't buy, and he doesn't want you waltzing out the same way."

"I see," Ryou sighed in resignation. He glanced around the room, and noted that the bathroom was small but included a shower stall. That brightened him up considerably, and he turned to her with a smile. "Thank you for the bed. And I'm sure a shower will be very nice."

She stared at him hard for a moment, and then shook her head. "Are you always this polite and reasonable? Because you're making me nervous."

"I suppose so," Ryou said, wondering why the good manners he'd been trained with seemed to affect so many people this way.

"Like, you're not even going to ask me to take off the handcuffs, are you? Because it might be rude or something?"

"Oh, well," Ryou looked at the cuffs doubtfully, "would you, if I asked?"

"Ha. For you, maybe… for the other you, not a chance."

Ryou nodded and smiled to show that he understood perfectly. "I'll manage, then."

"By the way," Shego said, "what should we call you? You have a name of your own, don't you?"

"Yes of course... it's rather odd, though. This ancient spirit happens to have the same given name as my family name. You can call me Ryou, if you like."

"A 3000 year old Egyptian had a Japanese family name? What's with that?"

Ryou shook his head and shrugged. "I have no explanation. Apparently there's some link between us. Unfortunately."

She gave a skeptical grunt. "Okay, Ryou. Or should I say, Ryou-chan?"

He blushed. She was grinning wickedly.

"As you wish, Shego-sama," he said, bowing his head over his cuffed hands.

She shook her head again and turned to go. He heard several locks click into place after she closed the door.

Bakura sniggered inside his head.

"What's funny?" Ryou asked.

/Fool,/ the spirit answered. Ryou wasn't sure if he was referring to himself or to Shego.

The spirit tugged at his mind. He slipped away, letting the other take over. In only a minute or so he was back, blinking in surprise.

"What was that…? Oh." He held up his hands. The open cuffs dangled from his good wrist. The broken one throbbed a little more than it had done, although it was healing rapidly, especially whenever Bakura took over.

/I had to twist it a little,/ Bakura thought, quite unapologetic. /Hold your hands up a little higher and we'll soon find out if there are any surveillance cameras in here./

Ryou was not happy with the idea of being watched. He waved his hands around and peered into every corner of the room. When nothing happened after several minutes, he dropped the handcuffs on the bed with relief.

/All right then,/ Bakura thought, satisfied. /You may as well rest a bit. You'll heal faster./

Ryou nodded and stretched out on the bed, which was infinitely more comfortable than the orange sofa had been, and fell into a restless sleep in seconds.

He woke up sometime later, unsure how much time had passed. He wasn't hungry, the light hadn't changed much, but his wrist felt nearly as good as ever. He held it up over his face and flexed his hand. It was a bit stiff, still, but there was hardly a twinge of pain. It felt like a nearly healed sprain, nothing more.

/Thank you,/ he thought, surprised.

/It took some doing,/ Bakura thought back at him, /but it will be worth it, if they still think we're incapacitated a bit./

Ryou lay there awhile, staring at the ceiling in the grey light. He didn't feel much like moving, since there was nothing to do but pace the room, but he was nowhere near sleep now. And he noticed something else.

"I stink," he said. "I hope the shower really works."

He got up and went into the bathroom. To his delight, the shower was clean and functional. When he closed the door he discovered a full-length mirror on the back of it. With a shrug, he started to undress.

/Ahh… / Bakura thought, eyeing Ryou's reflection.

It was an odd sensation that he'd never gotten used to, having Bakura look through his eyes at him like this, especially since Bakura's view of his body was quite different from his own. He'd always thought himself too thin and pale to be attractive, with his soft-looking, rounded face, but Bakura thought otherwise. It was just plain weird, Ryou thought, to be getting turned on by looking at himself in the mirror. His own sense of himself was far different, especially at the moment.

"I'm disgusting," he said, wrinkling his nose, "and my hair is hopeless."

/Nonsense,/ Bakura thought. /You're perfect. Just wait until I have my own hands to fondle you with…/

Ryou smiled, feeling warmth spread through his skin at the thought. He shook his head to clear it a bit and stepped into the shower stall. In a few seconds, steaming hot water engulfed him, while Bakura's steamy thoughts continued to flicker through his mind.

In the course of the shower, he found that his newly healed wrist was actually quite supple again after all. ()

After that, Ryou crawled into the bed and slept more soundly than he'd done since they'd left Japan.

---

Before it was light the next morning, Bakura took over and went to work on the locks. He examined the window, decided it wasn't worth bothering with anyway, and concentrated on the door. He laughed as the first two locks gave way easily, but he had a little more fun with the third. It took nearly twenty minutes to get through that one, and that was without using any magic.

"Foolish modern mortals. Nothing they devise can compare with the security devices of the ancient Egyptian tomb builders."

He opened the door a crack and listened. The bubble and whir of the lab could be heard, and there was some other sound nearer at hand. Someone was sitting or standing nearby, he was certain. After a moment's patient listening he heard the soft rustle of clothing and the creak of a chair, then Shego cleared her throat in that idle way people do when they're bored. Then again there was that other sound that he couldn't identify.

/I think she's filing her nails,/ Ryou thought.

/Ahh, of course./

Bakura slowly, very slowly and quietly, opened the door, and stepped out.

The lab was nearly dark, the glow from computer screens and digital readouts providing most of the light. Ten feet away, in a small patch of light that came through the windowed wall from the corridor, Shego was sitting with her chair back against a wall. She would have had a good view of the door and the area around it even in the shadows, but she was bent over her task of filing her nails and peering at a magazine that was spread out on her knees as well.

Bakura could make the Ring invisible but not himself. However, he could be as stealthy as a cat, or more so, when he needed to be. He slipped by, quickly crossing the dimly lit space between the door and a bank of equipment that hid him from view. Shego never looked up. His heart was pounding, mostly with Ryou's nerves, but he calmed himself and stopped to take a good look around.

/Let's see what they've got set up for us, shall we?/ he thought. Ryou didn't seem to relish the idea.

Carefully keeping out of Shego's sight, he prowled around the lab, noting the items he'd requested neatly arranged alongside a computer terminal and several unfamiliar electronic devices. Wires trailed from one of these terminals to the gurney. There was a display of numbers and symbols on the front of it that meant nothing to him. He frowned at it for a few seconds, then shrugged.

/We'll find out soon enough,/ he thought, and moved on toward the door to the lab.

/You're not leaving?/ Ryou asked.

/Of course not. Just making a point./

He peered back towards the room they'd left, and towards Shego's chair, through a bank of test tubes and tubing and beakers. He could see the chair. Shego was no longer in it.

"Looking for something?" said Shego.

She was standing right behind him. He wasn't even surprised.

"Making sure of the arrangements," he said smoothly, turning to face her. "You're up early."

"Uh-huh. So are you. Took you long enough to open the door."

He scowled at her. "Barely ten minutes," he snapped, stung by her skepticism.

"Yeah. Whatever. Now, I know your polite side was right and you probably aren't interested in leaving, but my boss won't like it if I let you walk around on your own like this anyway. So you can either go back into your little room quietly and stay there until we're ready for you, or…" She raised her hands. He gazed at them in fascination, although they appeared quite normal –then suddenly, green energy flared around them.

"Very intriguing," he said. "I wonder, what other uses you can put them to besides blasting things? Energy like that might well be used for pleasure as well as pain, don't you think?"

She stared at him a moment, then laughed out loud. "Wait, wait a minute…. are you coming on to me?"

"What if I was?" he purred.

She gaped in highly amused disbelief. Ryou was feeling about the same way she looked, only less amused. In fact, Bakura noticed, Ryou almost cheered mentally when Shego pulled back her fist to hit him.

He blocked it with the bandaged wrist. This worked well because she wasn't expecting it; in fact, he thought she might have pulled her punch just a little, but he couldn't be sure. He used the plastic splint and bandages against her and knocked her fist aside to where he could grab it with his other hand.

But at the same time she jabbed up from below with her other hand and, as he should have expected, with her knee. He twisted his hips at the last possible second so she only knee'd him in the thigh. The move barely avoided an injury which Ryou would never have forgiven him for, and which might well have defeated much of the purpose of their whole project.

Her other fist slammed into him below the ribs at the same time. She took advantage of his dodge to protect Ryou's assets by yanking her hand back as he tried to hold onto it, which pulled him just a little off-balance.

That was all she needed. He made a desperate grab for her with his bandaged hand and tried to shove her backward, but she twisted out of his grasp and got her hand free of his.

For a second he looked into her jade-green eyes. Then he threw up his hands to shield his face. The glare came right through his fingers like an eerie green x-ray. Everything went painfully white, and then quickly faded to black.

---

Ryou opened his eyes cautiously. It took a few seconds for his sight to clear. When it did, he realized that he was on his back on the floor, again, with Shego standing over him. She looked down with a smug, knowing expression.

"Uh-huh. I was expecting you," she said.

"Ow," he said. The back of his head hurt.

"Pathetic."

"So I've been told," Ryou muttered.

"Not you," she said. She leaned down and offered Ryou her hand, helping him to his feet when he took it. "Him. Can't even take his own lumps."

A little later, Ryou sat on the bed in the former office, holding the cold pack Shego had given him to the lump on the back of his head.

"Why did you do that?" he wondered at his other self. He was bewildered and hurt, in more ways than one.

/Because, in case you hadn't noticed, she's hot. I couldn't resist. It was almost worth it, too./

"If you say so," Ryou muttered, annoyed.

He sensed surprise from the spirit. He felt like he was being mentally stared at in disbelief.

/You really hadn't noticed that she's hot, had you? Ryou, do you even look at girls?/

Ryou thought about it, briefly. "No... not really. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at."

/I didn't think it was possible to be that gay,/ Bakura thought, amused.

"You hadn't noticed?" Ryou said irritably. He let a vivid thought of their recent activity in the shower flash into his mind, then yanked it away again. "Anyway, I certainly don't see why you're so attracted to someone who has a tendency to kick your arse. Which also happens to be my arse, by the way."

/Not for much longer, Yadonushi,/ Bakura thought soothingly. /You needn't be jealous. As soon as I have eyes of my own, I assure you they'll be only for you. I'll send Shego to the Shadow Realm, if you like./

"You don't need to do that," Ryou mumbled, flopping back on the bed. "You can't just go sending everyone to the Shadow Realm all the time, Bakura. It isn't right."

Actually he liked the idea more than he wanted to admit.

---

Interlude Three (Intercom, Drakken's lab)

"Hey Doc, you awake in there?"

"Of course I'm awake. If the ghost tracking alarms hadn't woken me up, hearing your little discussion with our guest over the intercom would have."

"Heh! That's what you get for eavesdropping. So, the new ghostbusting gadgets I stole for you actually work?"

"Perfectly. The alarm sounded the second he left his room, and I could track every movement after that."

"Very handy. Of course, that means he really is a ghost, you know."

"I don't care what he is, I want that Ring. With a Ring like that I could - dare I say it? - Rule The World."()

"Yeah… that and an army of sword-swinging penguins."

"Whatever. You know, Shego, if you'd just led him on a little longer he might have made that Ring appear again.

"….."

"Shego?"

"Led him on?!"

"Er, forget it. Ha-ha! Just kidding. Bad idea!"

"Grrr…"

"Anyway, moving right along, heh-heh… how about my new ghostbusting device, hmmm?"

"Yeah, how about it? What would have happened if he'd made it to the door? He would have crossed the beam and, what, been sucked into a jar or something?"

"Something like that. I guess. But he's no use to me that way."

"Well, I don't think he's planning to leave, not until he gets that new body, anyway. How's it coming, by the way?"

"Everything is ready. The DNA duplicator is fully operational, the synth-organic flesh culture is ready to be sequenced…"

"Yuck."

"…and in a few hours we'll have a fully grown clone of the boy. All it will need is a mind to animate it."

"And that's up to him. That part's going to be wee-ird."

"Tell me about it. If it works, though, all I have to do is keep him under my control long enough to get that Ring."

"And you have a plan to do that? Because after that the ghostbusting stuff might not work, you know, if he isn't technically a ghost anymore. And the locks are useless (I told you so, by the way), and I don't think he's planning on sticking around to hand over his magic ring or any of his other powers."

"Oh, I have a plan, alright. Uh… of course, if you gave him a little encouragement, he might decide to stick around for awhile."

" 'Encouragement'?"

"You know…"

"Drakken. Don't. Even. Ask."

"Right never mind…"

End Interlude 3

( For the full view of Ryou's shower scene, read "Steam - A Lemon Interlude", as long as you're legal to read NC17 stories!)

( Movie trivia - Drakken stole that line from the old Beatles movie "Help!")


	5. In Which Ryou Shines

Title: Anything's Possible, chapter 5/8. REWRITTEN, various changes and corrections made.

Author: Tsutsuji

Rating: PG13

Warnings: shonen-ai.

(AN: Less humor, more magic in this chapter - more like a Yu-gi-oh! episode and less of the humor of KP.

Note: there are some SPOILERS here for anyone who doesn't know anything about Bakura's Egyptian past. Read at your own risk.)

-- Interlude 4 --

Ryou was dreaming of Egypt, as he often did.

Memories of visits to archeological digs with his father blended with images from Bakura's life long ago. Hot sun, wide bright sky, and endless sand and dust were the same in either case. And almost always there were crowds of people: students of ancient history sifting through the dust for shards of pottery and bones; a solemn line of white-robed priests performing a ritual to the Sun; tourists gaping at the towering ruins of tombs; a noisy, sweaty group of workers pausing by gigantic blocks of stone to drink beer from earthen mugs.

He'd be following a figure who moved through the throng of people, always ahead of him, almost slipping out of sight. The man wore a red robe and had gold bands on his wrists and ankles, which were tanned and hard-muscled. His hair was the color of bleached straw, almost as white as Ryou's, but it was stiff and wild while Ryou's was a cloud-like mane.

The man would leave the crowds suddenly and stride along through the desert, heading toward the darkening horizon as the sun sank behind them. Ryou struggled to keep up, but his feet would sink into the sand and hold him back, while the other glided along as lightly as a cat.

Ryou tried to call out to him, but couldn't make a sound. Even so, the other heard him and started to turn around. He caught only a glimpse of a tanned face and bright eyes through a fringe of wild hair. Then the ground sank out from under him, he was dragged down, and the sand closed over his head before he ever saw the man's face.

In other dreams he saw the world through Bakura's eyes, where the sand and sun were the same but the temples and tombs were new and bright. In these dreams he wandered out of the sun into a cold night under a dome of icy stars.

The stars disappeared, and he was walking silently through dark stone passages where the air was warm and stale. He felt compelled to follow them as they twisted ever deeper into the heart of the earth. In the shadows above him, painted eyes stared down sightlessly. Then he'd be in a room of shrouded figures, statues of wood and stone with more blind eyes, the scent of perfumed oils and grains in the air.

The glint of gold caught his eye through the shadows. When he reached to touch it, it scalded him, but he couldn't pull his hand away as flames leapt up his arm.

While Ryou's own dreams ended buried in cool sand, Bakura's left him drowning and melting in a sea of molten gold.

Ryou woke up gasping for breath, clutching at the Ring. "I'm sorry!" he gasped automatically, before he realized no one was listening. Sorry for what, he was never sure. Bakura's spirit was a silent presence in his mind. If he'd shared in the dream, Ryou couldn't tell. They never spoke of Bakura's past.

Ryou caught his breath and lay back down again, his hand still holding the Ring against his chest. Dream images flowed into waking thoughts. The body would be ready in the morning, and Bakura would perform the ritual that would transfer his soul into the new host. Ryou felt strange using the word 'host' for someone other than himself. He felt a twinge of sadness, and also worry - but mostly he felt excited, as he remembered feeling as a child on the eve of a festival.

And curious. He looked back into his dream and wondered if he would soon see the face of the man he'd been following through the sand.

-- end Interlude --

Chapter 5, In which Drakken also has a Plan B.

"Rise and shine, boys! Big day ahead!"

Ryou poked his head out from under the blanket and peered up at Shego, who stood leaning against the doorway of his room. Bakura stirred in his mind.

/'Boys'?/ he thought indignantly.

"Uh, yes, good morning," Ryou yawned. He wasn't his best at conversation or thought first thing in the morning, especially after lying awake wondering and worrying for a good portion of the night. Through his own mental fog he felt Bakura's excitement.

As he sat up and stretched, Shego came in and held out two objects to him. In one hand she held a take-out box with an egg in a biscuit and a large cup of coffee, and in the other -- his knapsack. He gaped at it. He'd left it in the hotel room several miles away, several days ago, before he'd called a cab to bring him here.

"Thought you might like some clean clothes for the occasion," she said.

"How did you...?"

Before he could finish she tossed a set of keys onto the bed beside him, including the hotel room key. He glanced over at the chair where he'd left his jeans neatly folded the night before. They were now lying there in a heap, pockets emptied.

Bakura found this amusing, but Ryou didn't. He snatched the knapsack out of her hand and scowled as he checked to see if anything was missing.

"Thank you, I guess," he muttered.

She looked startled for a moment. "Whoa, coming from you that's downright snappish. A bit tense about today, are we?"

He looked up at her, ready to snap again. She stood there with her head tilted. Her dark, thick hair was a curtain hiding half her face. The eye he could see gazed down at him thoughtfully, not at all offended, not even very amused at his expense.

"I guess I am," he admitted. He ducked his head again, this time to take a sip from the coffee. "How is.... everything?"

"Dr. Franken-drakken says everything's nearly ready, going right along as planned. Well, actually, he sort of cackled maniacally in a way that I'm sure means everything is nearly ready and going along as planned. And he keeps ranting about, oh, you know, army of monsters, take over the world, blah blah... you do remember that part, right?"

"About giving him the Ring when it's... done?" Ryou said absently as he pulled out several sorely missed items from his bag. "Yes, I remember." He took another sip of coffee. He considered the fried egg and biscuit sandwich but couldn't convince his stomach to take it seriously.

He realized that Shego was still standing there, staring down at him, and something about her stare made him uncomfortable.

He glanced up and smiled his best smile at her. "Thank you for bringing breakfast."

"Uh-huh," she said, sounding unconvinced by his sudden cheeriness. "Well, I'll just leave you two to get ready. Doc says it should only be about an hour."

He swallowed wrong and choked. "An hour?" he coughed, blinking back sudden tears.

Bakura seemed surprised into silence as well. Shego stared hard at him for a moment with a strangely knowing look.

"You've known all along, really, haven't you?" she said.

He blinked. Then blushed. In his half-asleep excitement, he'd forgotten what he wasn't supposed to know, and forgotten to act innocent and ignorant. It was too late now.

"Oh. Er, yes. Actually."

"So, how come you don't seem so happy to be getting this parasite out of your head?" she asked. "What am I missing here?"

"I am! I do want him out. It's just that, I, we... it's complicated."

"I'll say."

He couldn't tell if Bakura was pleased with her shrewdness or annoyed that he'd given away part of their game. The spirit's thoughts seemed to be going in several different directions. To his surprise, he realized that Bakura was as nervous about this whole process as he was. Or was he having second thoughts?

He checked more carefully, nudging at Bakura's thought with his own.

/???/ he asked.

/Nothing. It doesn't matter what she thinks, but there's much to think about. The ritual... and what Drakken might have planned... and.../

/The future?/ Ryou asked quietly.

/That isn't a question. Our future is together./

Ryou smiled.

Suddenly he became aware of Shego again. She stood in the doorway now, head tilted forward as she regarded him with a sly smile and a very knowing look in her eyes.

"Uh-huh, I think I'm getting a picture here and it's twisting my brain. So I'm going to leave you two sweethearts to think at each other or whatever it is you're doing while I go... file my nails."

She was gone before Ryou could make his mouth work to say anything.

/Did she just call us sweethearts?/ Bakura thought, even more indignantly than when she'd called them "boys."

Ryou sighed and nodded his head. "She did. I'm sorry. I gave us away, I'm afraid."

After a moment, to his surprised, Bakura laughed. /Actually, it's rather cute,/ he said.

Ryou suddenly had the feeling that it was going to be a very strange day.

It could not get much stranger, he thought an hour or so later. He was looking at a sheet-covered body on a gurney. The body was lying there in the middle of a lab full of whistling, bubbling, whining equipment, and all around him were vats and beakers of colored fluids that seemed to move of their own accord. An array of crystal pyramids, stolen gold jewelry, and blood-black stones were piled on top of the sheet covering the body. And over all of this, Dr. Drakken cackled and rubbed his blue-skinned hands together gleefully.

Ryou really hoped it couldn't get any stranger.

"Ready for the unveiling?" Drakken said with glee. He grabbed a corner of the sheet.

For some reason Ryou wasn't sure he was ready. In fact, he felt a little faint as the sheet began to slide away. He felt as if this was a dream where he was trying to yell something that wouldn't come out while sand closed over his head....

And then Bakura leapt forward to take over as Ryou really did faint dead away. He stared down at his body-to-be with a mixture of fascination and repulsion.

It had no face.

Drakken dropped the sheet across the chest and stared down at it stupidly, while Shego looked as if she didn't want to look but couldn't help herself. Bakura spared them a glance and then looked at the body again. It was a fully formed body, but it was disturbingly vague in the details. The head was simply a pale-skinned skull with no features.

"I don't understand," Drakken said, frantically checking notes and readouts. "The cloning process should have produced an exact replica. I can't imagine what went wrong. Just let me check..."

"Nothing went wrong, you fool," Bakura said, startling Drakken to silence for a moment. "It's perfect. Ryou's DNA only provided part of the picture, the basic outline if you will. My spirit will give the body its final form."

"Oh." Drakken said after a moment's pause. "Right. Heh. I knew that."

"Of course you didn't. But it doesn't matter. All that's left is for me to perform the ritual. Then... we'll see, won't we?"

/Are you ready, Yadonushi?/ he thought as Ryou's consciousness stirred back to life.

/I guess so. I'm sorry I fainted. You didn't tell me it wouldn't have a face! That's just... creepy./

Bakura chuckled. /I didn't know what it would look like, but I assumed it would not be the final version. Now, be prepared. This may feel very strange, perhaps even painful for a moment, but you have to stay strong and remain conscious if you can. I'll have to bring the Ring out where they can see it, but you must not let them touch it!/

/Never,/ Ryou thought with all his determination.

Bakura smiled. They'd never seen Ryou when he was determined. He wished he could watch, but he was about to be busy with other things....

Drakken and Shego looked on from opposite sides of the gurney as Bakura began his preparations. He placed the seven crystal pyramids in a line along the body, above the head, on the forehead, on the throat, the chest, and the stomach, and on the sheet covering the lower belly and the groin. The gold chains and jewelry were arrayed around the body and on arms, wrists, thighs, and ankles. The Dragon's Blood stones were placed on spots over the heart and other organs.

While he arranged these things Bakura began to chant low in his throat. It sounded wordless to Shego, but the sound of it seemed to crawl up her spine and into her brain.

When everything was placed as he wanted it, Bakura stood at the foot of the gurney, and the chant grew louder and richer as he raised his arms in front of him. To Shego it seemed as if the normal sounds of the lab faded and the light grew dim. The chanting seemed to throb from the walls and floor and vibrate through her. The air filled with a strange odor of dust and decay and pungent incense.

Shego felt as if her heartbeat was slowing to the rhythm of the chant, as if the unheard words were wrapping themselves around her mind and taking control. She narrowed her eyes and flexed her fingers, making sure she could move of her own will. Drakken seemed rooted to the spot, only his eyes wandering nervously around the room and constantly back to the body, nervous yet fascinated.

But his fingers twitched as well when the glowing circle of light appeared in the air in front of Bakura, growing outward and taking on a solid form. The Ring hung in the air, still attached by its leather cord around Bakura's neck. Its dangling points raised themselves and pointed toward the body.

Shego leaned forward, itching to grab it, but Drakken caught her eye and gave his head a small shake. She forced herself to wait and see what was going to happen next.

The chant suddenly grew louder, as if other voices had taken it up. With a start Shego realized that the other voices came from the Ring itself, as if a hundred other spirits were awakened within it. She shivered, though the room had grown warmer.

When if happened, it was more sudden than they'd expected. All at once the Ring flashed a blinding flame of violet light. She instinctively threw up her arm to shield her eyes, but peeked through to see rays of energy shoot from its points into the crystals. The light split into brilliant rainbows that were absorbed into the body.

The light disappeared in seconds, leaving her eyes seared with a purple silhouette of Bakura standing with his hands outstretched against a background of red fire.

As sight and sound returned to normal, she immediately realized that it was Ryou standing there now instead of Bakura. His soft brown eyes stared at nothing for a moment, then his outstretched arms dropped as he swayed, head drooping. He suddenly looked as fragile as a doll made out of paper, she thought; a little pastel-paper origami figure of a boy. The Ring hung flat and dull against his chest.

"Shego! Now!"

She sprang for him. At the same moment his legs seemed to give out and he folded to the floor. With a grin of triumph she pounced on him, pushing him backward and grabbing the Ring.

Ryou opened his eyes and looked up at her. She froze. They were certainly Ryou's eyes, but there was a glow in their depths like red coals ready to explode in flame. The Ring in her hand and his body beneath her rumbled like an earthquake. She would have let go and jumped away if she could, but it was too late for that.

"No!" Ryou shouted.

She had a fraction of a second to be surprised that it was his voice and not the other's before the force of it hit her like a bolt of lightning. She had a strange vision of the room as she flew backwards through the air, right up over the body on the table, to slam butt-first into Drakken's chest. She heard his "oomph!" of surprise and pain, and thought in a flash "that'll come out of my paycheck!" They both hit the floor and things went black.

Ryou sat up and shook himself. He picked up the Ring and looked at it. He looked at the two in a heap on the floor. Shego moaned a little, as if trying to wake up but thinking better of it, and Drakken twitched.

"Oh dear," he said first, and then added with satisfaction, "So _that's_ how that works."

He hoped they'd be okay. Then suddenly he remembered he had other things to worry about. He scrambled to his feet, shaky and light-headed but determined. He stepped up to the gurney.

His heart gave a lurch when he saw what, or rather who, was lying there. It was, literally, the man of his dreams.

---

(continued in part 6 - NEW! Chapter 6 and the rest has been rewritten. More B/R yaoi, less naked mole rat grin! )


	6. In Which Some Dreams Do Come True

Anything's Possible chapter 6 - REWRITTEN! many changes. More B/R yaoi-ness! (Less scene-stealing naked mole rat!)

Author: Tsutsuji

Fandom: crossover, Yu-gi-oh & Kim Possible

Pairing: Bakura/Ryou

Rating: PG13 (yaoi, a little language)

Summary: After the ritual, Ryou and Bakura want to slip away and get on with... things! But Drakken and Shego have other plans.

-- Interlude 6: Kimunicator --

"What's up Wade? Got a line on Drakken?"

"Found him, Kim. He's in an old industrial complex just south of Lower Middleton. It's pretty low-key and low-tech for him, but it might suit his present purposes just fine. I also found out what was stolen from that top-secret research lab. Get this: their area of research is paranormal activity."

"You mean, like, ESP and mutant sewer monsters? Ew!"

"Like investigating haunted houses. Basically, ghost busting!"

"Still in the Creepy Zone."

"Yeah, but it fits. And there's something else you should know before you go busting into Drakken's lair."

"Dare I ask?"

"It's not as creepy. Maybe. I think there may be a connection with a report of a missing person in the area. Seems a high-school-age kid with a foreign travel visa checked into a local hotel in Lower Middleton almost a week ago, then disappeared the next day, leaving his stuff behind. Yesterday someone broke in and stole most of his stuff, but the kid still hasn't been seen."

"Maybe he just skipped out on his bill?"

"Maybe, but my hunch says no. I was able to trace his credit card info. He's from Japan, but his father's a pretty well known archeologist, an expert in ancient Egyptian myth and ritual. I don't know, sounds pretty crazy, maybe it's just coincidence, but it all kinda fits in with the theft of the crystals and the other night-of-the-living-dead stuff."

"So you're saying Drakken's added mummies to his army of zombies and ghosts? Great!"

"I'm saying that Drakken might have kidnapped someone with knowledge he can use to create his evil army. He's done it before."

"And a probable hostage on the premises means more caution on the mission. We'll proceed with all due care, and get the poor kid out of there."

"Hopefully before Drakken can use whatever knowledge he has to help make his horror-matinee army!"

"Shudder! I'll grab Ron and we'll be on our way! Hm, maybe I won't mention the possible mummy angle to him until we get there."

"Good idea. Good luck, Kim!"

--End Interlude 6--

_Ryou's heart gave a lurch when he saw what, or who, was lying there. It was, literally, the man of his dreams._

Even though he'd never seen the face clearly, and even though the eyes were closed, he knew it was the same man. Ryou's gaze roamed over the tanned skin, powerful chest and broad shoulders, muscled arms and weathered hands. He stepped closer to look down in wonder at the strangely familiar face. It looked much like his own might have if he'd spent most of his life in the desert sun, yet distinctly different. He reached out to touch a fingertip to the scarred cheek, where two lines crossed a third below the right eye.

Was he alive? He had to be. Ryou held his breath as he bent closer, listening for the other's breath. The skin was warm, and he noticed that the chest rose and fell gently, and a pulse throbbed in the throat. He thought he saw a twitch under the closed eyelids.

As he leaned closer the Ring clattered against the edge of the gurney. He picked it up and placed it on the man's chest, his own hand resting on it. This brought his own face closer to the other's.

He touched a finger to the full lips, and then let it rest on the jumping pulse in the neck.

"Bakura!" he whispered. "Wake up!"

He listened for the stirring of Bakura's thought in his mind. There was silence, but not the absence he'd noticed when they'd been separated before, when he'd lost the Ring for a time. The spirit was there, somewhere. His mind was only sleeping.

Ryou touched his lips to Bakura's. They were warm, and softer than he expected. He whispered against them, "wake up, my shadow."

He felt movement, and then there was a warm, calloused hand in his hair at the back of his head, and a sigh of breath against his lips. The eyelids fluttered open.

Grey-blue eyes, the color of evening shadows, gazed into his. He heard the spirit in his mind, confused thoughts at first settling into wordless wonder at the sight of him.

"It worked," Ryou said softly.

"So it did," Bakura answered.

Ryou's heart pounded at the real sound of his voice. He felt it rumble in the broad chest under his hand.

"At last..." Bakura said, smiling. He pulled Ryou's head down for a kiss - their first real kiss.

---

Warmth. Light. The sweetest taste he'd ever tasted, sweeter than fresh water in the desert. A strange heaviness, but a spark of energy to move the unusual weight. The spark became an impulse, to lift an arm, raise an eyelid, pull another breath into new lungs.

When he opened his eyes, light filled his vision, light and warmth. Ryou's face. Fingertips alive with sensation felt softness. Ryou's hair. Scent and taste followed his breath, filled his lungs and awakened his mind. Ryou.

At last. He could _see_ him. It was incredible.

"It worked," Ryou breathed against his lips. They tingled. Everything tingled. It was almost too much. His mind, taking in all the new sensations, spun and jumped. He focused on the only thing that mattered. Ryou.

"So it did," he said. Nothing profound for the first words in his life.

What to do first? Speak, move, breathe, look, touch? He wanted to do all of it at once. He longed to simply look at Ryou, to really see his warm brown eyes as he never had before.

Now he looked up and saw Ryou's soul shining in those eyes. His lips were warm from Ryou's first tentative touch. What to do first? That was easy.

"At last," he said, and pulled Ryou down again for a real kiss.

His delight in his sense of sight was overwhelmed by the glory of touch and taste. Warm lips, soft pressure, a delicious new taste on his tongue as Ryou's lips parted his.

But along with all the other newly awakened senses, he now had a sense of time passing. Time didn't seem to pass for him as a spirit, even when he'd been in control of Ryou's body. Now it had started ticking away again, measured by two heartbeats, one he could hear and one he could feel. Time was passing over them like the wind across desert sands.

Reluctantly, he let himself remember where they were and what was happening. Part of his mind slipped away to take stock, to bring his memories up to date from the moments before the ritual, and to sense the environment beyond this center of the universe that was Ryou.

As he let more of his awareness drift in, he felt Ryou's attention slip away as well. He realized that he'd heard and sensed movement behind Ryou. Reluctantly and resentfully, he remembered that there were others in the room that had to be dealt with. Drowning his newly born senses in his Yadonushi would have to wait.

He'd forgotten how annoying time could be.

---

Ryou knew Shego was watching them. For a moment he didn't care. Then he heard Drakken move as well, climbing to his feet. The back of his neck tingled as he felt the combined weight of their stares. He tried to break off the kiss... but he couldn't.

"Wow, didn't see that coming," Shego said sarcastically. "Can't you two lovebirds wait until you're alone to do that?"

"Um-um," Bakura answered. Ryou smiled against his lips.

"Well," Drakken said. Ryou could hear him dusting himself off. "That didn't work. On to Plan B, then... Eh? What're they doing? Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? That shouldn't be necessary, the vital signs are all..."

"Drakken, for an evil genius you are as dense as a doorknob sometimes," Shego said flatly. "Take another look. You watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy all the time - get a clue!"

"I do not! What's that got to do with.... oh."

"D'uh." Shego added.

Ryou felt rather than heard the rumble of laughter in Bakura's chest. If he weren't so annoyed at the interruption of this most wonderful moment of his life (so far), he would have laughed as well. Instead, he pulled back reluctantly, but his gaze stayed locked on Bakura's face.

The shadow-blue eyes opened fully. They seemed a little unfocused as they searched Ryou's face, and then they became sharp, looking into Ryou's eyes with a promise.

"You mean," Drakken started to sputter, "You mean you came here and demanded I use my genius to make you a new body, just so you could _make out_ with your _boyfriend_?"

Shego cracked up. Bakura grinned. Their eyes stayed locked on each other as Ryou stepped back and Bakura sat up, swinging his long legs off the gurney. He casually gathered the sheet around his waist as he landed on his feet. Finally, he tore his eyes away from Ryou's face and turned to Drakken and Shego.

"Basically, yes," he said with a leer. "That, and... other things."

His arm was around Ryou's shoulder, a comforting weight. Ryou's head spun. It was real. Bakura, the spirit he'd come to love, was standing beside him in a living body. He could feel the warmth and solidness of it against his side.

He glanced away from Bakura's grinning face to see Shego and Drakken eyeing Bakura appraisingly. Drakken seemed mostly curious, but Shego seemed to approve of what she saw.

"I like the new look, Bakura," she said with just a hint of suggestiveness in her voice.

Ryou glared at her, and pressed closer to Bakura's side, as if his presence could cut off her gaze. But Bakura seemed amused.

"Too late," Bakura said to her. "You had your chance." His hand squeezed Ryou's shoulder and he looked down sidelong at him, completely ignoring Shego's newfound admiration.

"Aw, darn," she said. Ryou realized with relief that she was still being sarcastic.

/I think she liked you better anyway,/ Bakura's voice said in his mind. Ryou's eyes widened in surprise. Shego liked him? He wasn't so sure about that.

He forgot Shego completely as he was caught again by those blue eyes, and that familiar yet strange, scarred face.

Bakura's face was still shaped like his and yet harder, older, where his was too round and soft, at least to his own eyes. Ryou was entranced first by the firm line of his jaw, then by the pulse beating in his throat, and then by the strong line of his collarbone, and then by his firm, broad chest....

He wanted so much to touch that chest, place his cheek against it and feel the heartbeat. The longing was so strong he could do nothing for a moment but stare at it. It was just as well, he thought, that it held his attention. If his gaze or his mind wandered any lower, he'd be in serious trouble.

They had to get out of here. Soon.

Bakura heard this thought and echoed it. /Soon, Yadonushi!/

But their attention was dragged back to Drakken, who had been fumbling with something he'd pulled from the pocket of his lab coat. He held it up in both hands in front of him, pointing it more or less in their direction. Annoyed, Ryou tried to make out what it was. A calculator? A pilot computer, or a pocket video game? No, it looked more like the remote control for a radio-controlled car, like the one Ryou had that he'd never played with.

"Well, I don't really care what you do with that body, as long as you keep your side of the bargain. Hand over The Ring!" Drakken said.

---

(continued in All New Chapter 7!)


	7. In Which Kim Doesn't Save the Day

Title: Anything's Possible chapter 7 - All New!

Author: Tsutsuji

Fandoms: Yu-gi-oh & Kim Possible.

Pairing: Bakura/Ryou. Implied Kim/Shego

Rating: PG13

Summary: Drakken wants Bakura's Ring for its power, while Bakura and Ryou just want to get away and check out Bakura's new body. Unexpected help arrives and things get complicated!

"Well, I don't really care what you do with that body, as long as you keep your side of the bargain. Hand over The Ring!" Drakken said.

---

Bakura's curiosity over what Drakken was babbling about was barely enough to pierce through the distraction of having Ryou next to him. His hand on Ryou's shoulder was nowhere near enough contact. He wanted to feel every inch of him, and he wanted to just stand there and stare at him, rather than pay any attention to these two idiots. At least Shego's reaction was amusing. Drakken was simply annoying.

It occurred to him much too late that they might have been able to slip away while these idiots were recovering from the effects of the ritual. Whatever Ryou had to do to protect him and the Ring, he'd done it well, Bakura realized. Those two had been barely conscious at the moment he had awakened. Now, Drakken had time to come up with some useless Plan B of his own which would just slow them down.

For a moment he was tempted to continue "making out" with Ryou right then and there - let Drakken's eyes fall out of his head as he watched! But he knew Ryou might not like putting on a show like that. And truth to tell, he really wanted to get Ryou alone so he could give him his full attention.

"As you have guessed, we have better things to do than hang around here," Bakura said. "The Ring belongs to Ryou. I'm sorry to admit that it wasn't mine to give away in the first place. Do you want to give Drakken your Ring, Ryou?"

"What?" Ryou looked at him blankly. He was obviously thinking of something else. Bakura didn't need to use their psychic connection to guess what it was. He had to make every effort not to let his own mind wander in the same general direction.

"Never mind. I already know the answer," Drakken said. "You give me no choice but to use _this_!"

He sounded so happy about having no choice that Bakura decided he'd better watch what the evil genius was up to after all. Drakken held up the device, thumbs poised over two buttons on the top. But instead of aiming it at them, he swung to the side and pressed both buttons.

Nothing happened. Drakken frowned and glared at the box. Shego smacked her hand into her forehead. "Not again!" she muttered.

Bakura shrugged. He was about to walk away, pulling Ryou with him, when there was a crash and clatter from the other side of the lab.

"Aha!" Drakken crowed. "Now you'll find out what happens to those who try to double-cross Dr. Drakken! Prepare to meet my _MonsterBots_!"

"What?" Ryou said again. He sounded annoyed this time, and Bakura echoed his feeling. Ryou looked around in confusion, as if he'd been awakened from a nice cozy sleep, then he jumped at the sound of another crash.

Bakura looked for the source of the shuffling and clanking sounds that were getting closer. On the other side of the lab, several gangling, jerking figures came lurching across the floor. The one in the lead looked just like a Maneater Bug, except for the rivets in its metal joints.

He almost laughed out loud. But the Monsterbot Bug reached out a huge claw and clamped it onto a metal table that was in its way. The table split cleanly in two, like paper cut by sharp scissors.

"Hey, what do you know, they actually work!" Shego said. Clearly this was something of a novelty.

"Of course they work!" Drakken snapped back. "MonsterBots! Attack Bakura! Shego - get The Ring!"

"My pleasure," she said, fixing her green-eyed stare on Ryou.

---

Ryou's lust-muddled mind was finally jarred back to reality by the sight of the robotic Maneater Bug cutting a solid metal desk in two. He hadn't expected something like this. It was damned frustrating when he had better things to do, like exploring all the unseen parts of Bakura's new body.

/Ryou! Look out for Shego!/ the cry came into his mind. He jerked his attention from the BugBot to find her diving toward him, her green fists glowing, her eyes fixed on the Ring that still hung around his neck. He grabbed the Ring with both hands. Instead of ducking away, he held it up in front of him and glared at her.

/How do you send someone to the Shadow Realm?/ he asked fiercely. He'd finally had it. Enough was enough.

Instead of answering, Bakura grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him aside. Shego just missed him, crashing into the gurney instead. He fell against Bakura, which was where he wanted to be, but Bakura had another problem. Ryou found himself looking up at the ManEaterBugBot. It had shuffled with surprising speed across the lab, and now it stood over them. Its claw was poised to take a swipe at Bakura's head.

Ryou dove for him, pushing him down and landing on top of him. The BugBot sliced air over their heads.

"Damn," Bakura swore. "We don't have time for this nonsense!"

"How do I send them to the Shadow Realm?" Ryou asked again, out loud this time, as they scrambled to their feet and backed around the gurney together.

The Bug shuffled toward them while Shego crouched on the other side of the gurney, ready to spring over it. Ryou wasn't certain which one looked meaner. Two more creatures came whirring and clicking toward them from behind: a RoboPenguin with a wildly swinging sword, and an Electric MechaLizard shooting off sparks that melted plastic computer casings as it crawled by.

"You can't send them to the Shadow Realm," Bakura said grimly.

"Why not!" Ryou raised the Ring. It glowed brightly. He could feel its power in his hands.

"Because you're you, not me!" Bakura snapped.

The BugBot's great claw came down and sliced through the gurney. Jewels and pyramid-shaped crystals scattered around them. Shego shoved the two halves aside and stepped through. RoboPenguin and MechaLizard came lurching up behind them. They had nowhere to go.

"Hand it over," Drakken snarled happily.

Shego's green-glowing fist was poised ready to strike him, but Ryou was more concerned with the BugBot, which raised its claw again, aiming for Bakura's head again. He didn't see how it could miss; there was nowhere left to duck or dodge.

He shoved Bakura aside, or tried to. Since Bakura tried to knock him out of Shego's reach at the same time, he only succeeded in getting them tangled up together. They tumbled backward to the floor. Shego loomed above them on one side; the BugBot towered over them on the other. Desperately, he raised the Ring over his head, with no idea what he could do with it. It flashed with a blinding light. Shego paused. But nothing else happened.

Something caught Ryou's eye- something that seemed so unlikely he thought he must be hallucinating: A girl with long red hair was doing cartwheels, leaping gracefully over the equipment toward Drakken. With the expertise of an acrobat she landed on her hands on the lab table nearest him, then nailed him with a perfectly pointed toe-kick.

The remote controller shot up in the air. The girl flipped over, caught it in mid-air, and landed lightly on the floor halfway between Drakken and Shego.

"I'll take that!" she said cheerfully.

While Ryou gaped at her, Shego spun around and swore out loud.

"Kim Possible!" Drakken roared. "Give that back! How did...? What...? Shego! Get her!"

"Kim!" someone else yelled, as Shego leaped toward the girl.

"Ron, catch!" the girl yelled. She tossed the remote. As if mesmerized, Ryou watched it soar across the room. It landed in the hands of an awkward-looking blond teenage boy with a hairless rodent riding on his shoulder.

Distracted by this bizarre interruption, Ryou forgot about the MonsterBots for a moment. Fortunately Bakura didn't. Ryou yelped as he felt himself tossed across the floor, away from Bakura, and away from the RoboPenguin's sword, which sliced down and left an inch-deep gouge in the floor where he'd just been sitting.

Ryou tumbled and rolled right into Shego, knocking her feet out from under her. This probably saved her head, as the redheaded acrobat aimed a swift karate kick at her at the same moment. Shego fell right into her, and they all went down in a heap.

Ryou found himself at the bottom of the pile. There were two young, attractive, firm-bodied women squirming around on top of him, and all he could think about was getting back to Bakura as quickly as possible.

He tried to scramble out from under them. He yanked a curtain of red hair out of his face - and found himself eye to eye with Shego.

"Aha," she said with a grin, and reached for him -- for the Ring.

Kim was still half on top of him. She tried to reach around him and grab Shego, but Shego got her hands on the Ring at the same time.

"No!" Ryou yelled, trying to yank and twist out of her grasp.

The Ring flashed again, eye-splittingly bright this time. Golden beams engulfed the three of them. He heard Bakura yell something, but the sound seemed muffled by the bright light. Some unseen force tossed him backward.

Two beams of light looked like solid gold as they slammed like pile drivers into the two girls, sending them flying away from him. They crashed into the two halves of the gurney and fell limply to the floor. Rainbows shot up from the scattered jewels and crystals and danced over their bodies. Or maybe it was just the colors swimming in his dazed head. He felt like his brain had been scrambled.

Ryou felt himself yanked again, this time by the ankle. A second later Bakura's strong arm had him around the waist. Head spinning, Ryou found himself plunked down on his butt under the shelter of a lab bench. Beside him, Bakura sat there on the floor, nothing but a sheet around his waist. He was calmly browsing through his deck of Duel Monsters cards.

---

"What just happened?"

Bakura had to chuckle. It sounded like such a reasonable question, in Ryou's calmest voice, while chaos and turmoil raged around them. He finished checking his deck. Nothing was missing.

"And where did that come from?" Ryou asked, eyeing the stack of cards.

"Drakken dropped it. He was lunging for the other kid..."

"Ron?"

"I suppose. Anyway, it fell out of his pocket, so I grabbed it on my way to grab you."

"What happened to Ron?"

"Take a look," Bakura said.

They peered out from under the bench. Across the lab, Drakken was grappling with the gangly teenage boy, trying the get the remote away from him. Like a kid with a toy who didn't want to share, Ron wouldn't let go. He'd figured out how to control the MonsterBots and was having way too much fun making them beat each other up.

"What about Shego?"

"Otherwise occupied," Bakura said, grinning.

Actually, Shego wasn't doing much at the moment. She and Kim were both out cold, lying amid the debris of his ritual. They were curled on their sides, apart but facing each other, like yin and yang. Their lifeless hands touched in the middle of the mess.

Ryou looked at them thoughtfully. Bakura realized he was still dazed. He didn't seem to realize what he'd just done. That was probably just as well.

"They seem to know each other," Ryou said vaguely.

"Yes," Bakura agreed. "I have the distinct impression they do this kind of thing a lot."

Ryou nodded. He was still staring at them, but no longer seeing them. Bakura sensed his mind returning to other matters.

"Can we go now?" he asked plaintively, looking up at Bakura with liquid chocolate eyes.

Bakura felt his new heart skip a beat. He grinned. "I don't see why not."

He handed Ryou his deck. When Ryou looked at it blankly, he shrugged and said, "I don't have any pockets"

"Oh. Right. So you don't"

He felt a very nice flush of warmth as Ryou's gaze returned to him, eyeing the sheet around his lower body with a speculative, eager look. His heart jumped again. So did something else.

"Let's go," he said huskily.

He crawled out from under the table and stood, and pulled Ryou to his feet. Ryou was a little limp, which was as good an excuse as any to put an arm around him and pull him close. He draped himself against Bakura and let himself be led across the lab. They slipped quickly into Ryou's room to grab his backpack, and then headed for the exit.

At the door, Bakura glanced back. Drakken was chasing Ron in circles, while the naked rodent on Ron's shoulder brandished a fisted paw at the evil genius. The RoboPenguin and MechaLizard were locked in combat, but both looked ready to fall apart at any second.

Bakura looked at the two young women. Kim was starting to stir. Shego wouldn't be moving any time soon. It would take them some time to realize why. Only he had sensed the magical energies left over from the ritual. Only he, with his sight still able to peer into the Shadow Realm, had seen the green-tinged shadow drawn from Shego's body to blend with the red-gold energy of the other girl's soul.

He hoped Shego would find sharing a body to be as much of a revelation as he had.

Shadow Magic. Sometimes he almost believed it had a mind of its own, or was controlled by some god with a very ironic sense of humor. The same god who had decided that his chance for vengeance for ancient wrongs should be entangled with a beautiful young man who had somehow captured his heart.

Ryou's head was nestled against his shoulder. He could smell his hair. Something warm stirred inside him.

It was time to leave.

---

(Continued in Chapter 8 and Epilogue. Also: Lemon Interlude II to come, as Ryou makes sure Bakura's new body is in good working order!)


	8. In Which Yami Gets A Clue Plus Epilogue

**Anything's Possible ** Chapter 8 and epilogue.

Author: _Tsutsuji_

Fandom: Yu-gi-oh and Kim Possible.

Pairing: Bakura/Ryou. Implied Shego/Kim.

Rating: PG13

Summary: Bakura and Ryou go home to show off Bakura's new body, which has an interesting effect on Yugi. But soon after, they get some disturbing news.

_Author's Notes: This is the prequel to the brand-new crossover extravaganza, "All Possible Worlds," now available at ffnet and other fine fanfiction outlets! More info on that at the end of the chapter._

_**Chapter 8, In Which Yami Gets a Clue**_

Ryou only vaguely remembered the trip home. He knew that they went and found food and a hotel room, and after that, things got a little hazy. Nice, but... hazy. Somehow, after a day or so, they managed to get themselves to an airport and onto a plane back to Japan.

He didn't have to worry about strangers groping him or leering at him this time because Bakura took care of all of that himself. The former spirit still didn't like flying, but Ryou managed to keep him distracted with whispered stories of what they would do when they finally got home. All of which they did, several times. His friends didn't even know he was back for two whole days.

* * *

Yugi looked up hopefully as the door of the shop jangled open. It was a Sunday morning over a week after Ryou had gone missing. Even though Yami and the others had started to think the worst, Yugi was certain his friend would return soon. This time his hope was rewarded.

"Hi Yugi!" Ryou said cheerily, striding into the game shop to Yugi's delight.

"Ryou! Where have you... oh," Yugi fell quiet as Bakura came through the door behind him. "Is that...who I think it is? You did find a way after all?" Yugi asked in awe. His large violet eyes stared up Bakura, who stood with his arms folded, looking at him smugly.

"Yes," Ryou went on happily. "It was a bit complicated but it worked. Yugi Moutou, I'd like to introduce Bakura..."

"I can see who it is!" Yugi's huge, round eyes had changed, suddenly glinting like rubies. Yami scowled at Bakura. "What evil magic did you use to accomplish this?" he snapped.

"None that you can fathom," Bakura snapped back. "Sorry we can't use the same technique for you, Pharaoh," he added teasingly. "You'll have to find your own evil genius to help you if you want to get it on with your host."

Yami blushed crimson, but it was hard to say if it was with rage or embarrassment.

"I don't... that's not... how dare you!" Yami sputtered.

Bakura smirked at him a moment. Then he turned to Ryou and pulled him into his arms.

"This is how I dare," he said in a sultry voice, and kissed Ryou deeply. Ryou sighed and wrapped his arms around Bakura, prolonging the kiss.

Yami looked on in shock for a moment, too startled to say anything - and what was there to say, anyway?

He felt Yugi looking through his mind and staring at this spectacle. Then it seemed that Yugi became aware of him watching him watch, and quickly shut his thoughts away.

_Yugi?_ Yami asked, puzzled. Yugi had been shutting off parts of his thoughts a lot lately, ever since Bakura's request for a new body, in fact._Yugi, what's wrong?_

Yugi mentally peeked out at him.

_Can we?_ he asked, sounding shy.

_Can we what?_ Yami asked in return. He started to suspect he knew the answer, if he could believe it.

_Can we find an evil genius, or even one who's not evil, so we can... do that?_

Yami didn't know what to say. He felt a flush creep through him as more of Yugi's thoughts leaked out. Things suddenly became much clearer. He started to smile...

Bakura glanced up from the kiss to see Yami's eyes glazed over and an enigmatic smile on his face. He nudged Ryou so he saw it too.

_I told you it would work,_ he thought.

Ryou just smiled. Bakura put his arm around him, and together they left the game shop.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Several days later, Bakura was dozing in bed while Ryou sat up beside him, working on his laptop. Since they spent so much time in bed, Ryou had started doing his homework there as well.

"You have mail, Bakura," Ryou said cheerily. But when Bakura managed to raise his head from the pillow, Ryou was frowning at the laptop that was perched on his knees.

"I don't like the sound of this," Ryou added. He looked down at Bakura's sleepy face doubtfully.

"What's the problem?" He didn't really want to know. He didn't really want Ryou to do any more homework, either. He rolled over and put his arms around Ryou's waist, his face nuzzled up against Ryou's hip.

"It says it's from GreenLaserFist(at)WorldDomination Dot Net, for one thing," Ryou said.

Bakura lifted his head. "Shego?"

"And the subject line is "90 Day Warranty on New Bodies!"

"What the hell?" Bakura hauled himself up to sit beside Ryou and peered over his shoulder at the screen. Ryou transferred the laptop to his lap. Not certain whether to be amused, annoyed, or worried, Bakura opened the message.

_How's the honeymoon, ghost boy? _

_If I could have found you a month ago, I would have ripped your head off of your pretty new body for completely screwing up my life. Fortunately for you I found another solution to that little problem you left me with. I have to say, though, now I understand why you wanted your own body so badly! (smirk) Glad we could help!_

_Now, I hate to admit it, but I sort of owe you one, after all. So I finally tracked down your email address to tell you this: That new body won't last. In a couple of months, it will start to break down. You'll age about 90 years in a couple of days, and then, poof! Drakken used some kind of stolen nanobot technology to make it. He doesn't even know how it works, and he wouldn't fix it for you if he could. Sorry to tell you this, but you might have to join up with your pretty Ryou again, unless you can find another genius who actually knows what he's doing._

_Just thought you'd like to know!_

_Shego_

Ryou barely bothered to wonder what the first part of the message meant before he read the second part.

"That can't be!" he cried. He peered closely at Bakura, as if searching for signs of decay already.

"It isn't happening yet," Bakura said. "I feel fine."

But he looked down at himself suspiciously. Was this body waiting to turn against him and destroy his new life with Ryou? The thought was unbearable. He was actually looking forward to growing old with Ryou, but not in a week!

He wondered if he could bring himself to reverse the ritual and put his spirit back into the Ring. The thought filled him with dread, but he would do it without a moment's hesitation if it was the only way to stay with Ryou.

Ryou snatched the laptop away. His face was grim and determined as he closed the message and called up a search engine. Bakura watched his agile fingers fly over the keys and tap the touchpad.

"What are you doing?" Bakura asked.

"Finding another genius, like she said. If I have to, I'll search until I find the greatest scientific genius in the whole galaxy!"

Bakura flopped back on the pillow. "Great. Everybody's got a website," he muttered. But in this case, he hoped it was true.

* * *

_The End._

Big Thanks to everyone who has left reviews or favorited this story over the last four years! I'm really surprised and happy that so many people have enjoyed it, and that it's been one of my all-time most popular stories. It was a lot of fun to write!

And now, at long last, only four years and one November in the making, the sequel has begun!**"All Possible Worlds"** is the new series of crossover stories in which Bakura and Ryou begin the search for a way to keep Bakura's new body going, meeting Transporters, Shinigami, GetBackers, Cardcaptors, Princesses, space pirates, half-demons, and assorted others along the way, and including a fateful encounter with Washuu, the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Galaxy - yes, she really does have a website!

Enjoy!


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